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Pete Hunt - The Secrets of React's Virtual DOM (FutureJS 2014)

Pete Hunt - The Secrets of React's Virtual DOM (FutureJS 2014)

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2 HN recommenders · discussed 2015–2023
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About this video

Pete Hunt explains why React's virtual DOM was built, how it compares with databinding-style systems, and what it means for future browser technology. Recorded at FutureJS 2014 in Barcelona.

Why it appears in the archive

Commenters point to it as the clearest explanation of why re-rendering beats tracking data changes, and say it sold them on React.

AI-generated summary and labels from the source dataset; verify important details against the video. Source & credits.

From the Hacker News discussion

unsoundInput · 2015-01 · rec

I agree that calling it "React-like" seems misleading. When I read about a 'x'-like library I expect something that could actually replace 'x' and provide nearly the same features. Pete Hunt did a great talk on what actually makes React / virtualdom different from other databinding approaches.[1] Using this definition Riot.js looks a lot more like Angular, Ember et al. to me. [1] [VIDEO]

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yazaddaruvala · 2023-06 · rec

I'll try one last time: > Sorry none of this makes any sense to me. If you're not familiar with the MVC variants (MVVM, MVP, MVI, MOVE)[0][1] we should start there. Next you should read through some common mistakes of Backbone.js like applications [LINK] and some criticisms of MVC on HackerNews in 2012[0]. Finally if you haven't before these talks, they are the ones that sold me on React: - [VIDEO] - [LINK] - [LINK] [0] [LINK] [1] [LINK]

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jesstaa · 2016-02 · reference

Performance characteristics are that this increases expsense with the size of your data where as just re-rendering increases expense with the size of your UI. It's actually much more common to have lots of data but only render a small amount of it, so re-rendering is generally cheaper. The size and complexity of UIs have a natural limit because of screen size and usability, but the amount of data you use to generate a UI has essentially no natural upper limit. Pete Hunt gave a talk on exactly this almost two years ago. [VIDEO]

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