Event Delegation
Event delegation is a programming pattern in JavaScript where event listeners are attached to a parent element rather than individual child elements, leveraging event bubbling to handle events from multiple child elements efficiently. It works by listening for events that bubble up from child elements to a common ancestor, then using event.target or event.currentTarget to identify the specific child that triggered the event. This approach is commonly used in web development to manage dynamic content and improve performance.
Developers should use event delegation when working with large numbers of similar elements (e.g., list items, buttons in a table) or dynamically generated content, as it reduces memory usage and simplifies event management by attaching a single listener instead of many. It's particularly useful in frameworks like React or vanilla JavaScript for handling user interactions in scalable applications, such as dropdown menus, todo lists, or interactive grids, where elements may be added or removed frequently.