Yes and no. The DOM is declarative internally, but the fastest way to use it is imperative where you manually create nodes one at a time, update properties on t

Yes and no. The DOM is declarative internally, but the fastest way to use it is imperative where you manually create nodes one at a time, update properties on those nodes individually, and string them together one command at a time. The effect for the programmer isn’t so different from a series of draw calls except that it’s more sensitive to individual updates tanking performance which requires even more consideration from the imperative programmer. To me, the best comparison is between an AOT language with manual memory (eg, C) vs a JITed language with garbage collection (eg, Java). In theory, the JIT can provide equivalent or even faster code, but that’s not generally the case in practice. The GC isn’t generally faster, but it is safer and easier. Some companies need their software written in C, but Java is good enough for most given the productivity gains. In theory, runtime inference could dynamically improve performance of declarative systems beyond what AOT imperative code can do, but in practice, companies don’t invest the resources to make this happen. At the same time, not having to manually manage the output to ensure garbage doesn’t creep in accidentally greatly improves developer productivity.