Incremental DOM

Incremental DOM is a JavaScript library for building and updating DOM trees efficiently by performing incremental updates rather than full re-renders. It works by traversing the DOM and applying only the necessary changes, which reduces memory usage and improves performance in applications with frequent UI updates. It is often used as a compilation target for templating languages and frameworks to generate optimized DOM manipulation code.

Also known as: IncrementalDOM, IncDOM, iDOM, Incremental-DOM, Inc Dom

Why learn Incremental DOM?

Developers should learn Incremental DOM when building high-performance web applications that require efficient DOM updates, such as single-page applications (SPAs) or real-time dashboards. It is particularly useful in scenarios where minimizing memory overhead and reducing reflow/repaint cycles are critical, as it helps avoid the performance pitfalls of virtual DOM approaches in large-scale apps. Use it with frameworks like Angular or as a base for custom templating solutions to achieve faster rendering.

Learning Resources

• docs: Incremental DOM GitHub Repository
• tutorial: Incremental DOM: A Different Approach to DOM Updates
• docs: Angular Ivy and Incremental DOM
• video: Performance Comparison: Virtual DOM vs Incremental DOM
• tutorial: Incremental DOM in Practice