Learn how React leverages Virtual DOM and Fiber Node to efficiently update your UI and keep apps smooth. ✨
When I first started diving deep into React, I kept wondering: “Are Virtual DOM and Fiber Node the same thing?” 🤔
The short answer is no, but they are closely related, like two teammates ⚽ with different roles in a match.
🔹 Are They the Same? What’s the Relation? 🧩
- Virtual DOM (VDOM) 🖼️: a snapshot of your UI in memory.
- Fiber Node 🔗: the task manager for React, tracking updates to each component individually.
Think of it this way:
Virtual DOM = what your UI looks like in memory
Fiber Node = how React decides what to update, when, and in what order 🕒
They work hand-in-hand: React uses the Virtual DOM to calculate changes, and Fiber breaks this work into units that can be scheduled efficiently ⚡, keeping large UI updates smooth.
🔹 Virtual DOM 🖼️
The Virtual DOM is an in-memory representation of the real DOM. React updates this virtual copy first, instead of touching the browser DOM directly.
How It Works:
- React renders the UI to a Virtual DOM tree 🌳
- On state or props update, a new Virtual DOM tree is created 🔄
- React diffs the old and new VDOM to find changes 🔍
- Only the changed parts are patched to the real DOM 🏗️
Pros:
- ⚡ Performance optimization – fewer direct DOM updates
- 🖌️ Declarative UI – React computes changes abstractly
- 🧠 Easier to reason about state updates and re-rendering
🔹 Fiber Node 🔗
Fiber is React’s reconciliation engine introduced in React 16.
Each component corresponds to a Fiber Node, a unit of work storing metadata like:
- 🏷️ Component type
- 📝 Props and state
- 🔗 Parent, child, sibling pointers
- ⚠️ Effect tags (tracking updates)
Why Fiber?
Previously, React’s diffing blocked the main thread ⏳ for large trees. Fiber solves this by:
- Splitting updates into small units ✂️
- Prioritizing important updates (animations vs background tasks) 🎯
- Pausing, aborting, or resuming work for smooth UIs 🛑➡️▶️
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