The real reason is because it’s faster (or was in 2014) to diff 2 versions of an optimized in-memory tree than it is to use the dom API to diff live html (where

The real reason is because it’s faster (or was in 2014) to diff 2 versions of an optimized in-memory tree than it is to use the dom API to diff live html (where any change might trigger the browser’s layout and rendering pipeline) That’s why react opted for a virtual dom. Many frameworks followed suit. We’re a decade on at this point and JavaScript runtimes are much faster