JavaScript DOM Manipulation Performance Comparing Vanilla JavaScript and Leading JavaScript Front-end Frameworks Morgan Persson 28/05/2020 Faculty of Computing, Blekinge Institute of Technology, 371 79 Karlskrona, Sweden This thesis is submitted to the Faculty of Computing at Blekinge Institute of Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the bachelor’s degree in software engineering. The thesis is equivalent to 10 weeks of full-time studies. Contact Information: Author(s): Morgan Persson E-mail:
[email protected] University advisor: Emil Folino Department of Computer Science Faculty of Computing Internet : www.bth.se Blekinge Institute of Technology Phone : +46 455 38 50 00 SE–371 79 Karlskrona, Sweden Fax : +46 455 38 50 57 Abstract Background. Websites of 2020 are often feature rich and highly interactive ap- plications. JavaScript is a popular programming language for the web, with many frameworks available. A common denominator for highly interactive web applica- tions is the need for efficient methods of manipulating the Document Object Model to enable a solid user experience. Objectives. This study compares Vanilla JavaScript and the JavaScript frameworks Angular, React and Vue.js in regards to DOM performance, DOM manipulation methodology and application size. Methods. A literature study was conducted to compare the DOM manipulation methodologies of Vanilla JavaScript and the selected frameworks. An experiment was conducted where test applications was created using Vanilla JavaScript and the selected frameworks. These applications were used as base for comparing applica- tion size and for comparison tests of DOM performance related metrics using Google Chrome and Firefox. Results. In regards to DOM manipulation methodology, there is a distinct difference between Vanilla JavaScript and the selected frameworks.