[dtagames]

I use Lit every day and I have no idea what you're talking about.

Any property can be a full JS object. When the property is changed, it is re-rendered in your component. I have never touched innerHtml and my Lit apps pass and render all kinds of stuff into html`` tagged templates.

It's really pure magic because you can freely mix regular old HTML and regular attributes with dynamic data and data binding. There's more than one way to write anything which gives you great flexibility. I adore tagged templates, and they work for CSS and SVG, too.

[dmitriid]

> I use Lit every day and I have no idea what you're talking about.

I'm talking about how lit is implemented internally and that's why I provided links to relevant parts of lit's code.

People having no idea how things work is the bane of our industry. And that's why we have objectively false statements like "regular old HTML and regular attributes with dynamic data and data binding".

Lit is almost as far from "regular old HTML" as React's JSX is: lit is a HTML-like DSL that even has constraints on how you use tagged literals themselves.

E.g. `<${tagName}></${tagName}>` is a valid tagged literal and it's invalid in lit.[1]

> they work for CSS and SVG, too.

If lit lets you mix SVG with custom elements, they don't really use custom elements. See discussion https://twitter.com/Rich_Harris/status/1198339672361119745?s...

[1] https://lit.dev/docs/templates/expressions/#invalid-location...

[dtagames]

I do understand that string concatenation and DOM rewrites are happening under the hood. How could they not be? But the point of using an abstraction like Lit is that I don't have to worry about that part.

Are you suggesting that Lit is updating .innerHtml when it doesn't need to? And are you sure about that? Because that should be entirely under my control by setting properties or state of the component, not by Lit redrawing them willy-nilly.

[dmitriid]

> Are you suggesting that Lit is updating .innerHtml when it doesn't need to?

Literally nowhere did I say that. I was responding to a specific thing.

[dtagames]

So what exactly is the complaint? You said that tagged templates require needless updates to .innerHtml and that "string concatenation" is the only thing they can do. Now we are agreeing that that's not true? :-)

How is it "objectively false" that Lit mixes regular HTML with data binding? That is exactly how it works. I have several Lit apps and they use regular HTML as well as custom components and both have access to Lit properties and state that are dynamic.

Are we talking at cross-purposes or are we trying to say the same thing two different ways? I use this tech every day and I feel like you're saying something about it that's not true -- or maybe I'm not understanding your view.

[dmitriid]

> You said that tagged templates require needless updates

I never said needless

> that "string concatenation" is the only thing they can do

It's not what "they" need to do. It's what you, or the library using them needs to do.

> Now we are agreeing that that's not true

If you invent something that I never said, then yes, we can both agree it's not true.

> How is it "objectively false" that Lit mixes regular HTML with data binding?

Once again that is not what I said. The objectively false statement is that it's "regular HTML". Lit is a HTML-like DSL because none of this is "regular HTML" because those attributes are invalid in regular HTML:

   html`<div ?hidden=${!show}></div>`

   html`<input .value=${value}>`

   html`<button @click=${this._clickHandler}>Go</button>`

And, on top of that it even adds constraints to tagged literals themselves:

   // Valid JS, and valid tagged literals. Invalid Lit

   <${tagName}></${tagName}>

> Are we talking at cross-purposes or are we trying to say the same thing two different ways

No. You're inventing things that I never said or implied and arguing against those inventions.

[dtagames]

I still don't understand the objection. Your example of invalid Lit is something I would never write. Lit is perfectly helpful without it. What makes you say the .value and @click attributes are invalid? In some older HTML spec, you mean? They certainly work correctly in modern browsers.

You can definitely mix data binding with regular HTML. It might be "invalid" according to a spec that makes no difference. The point of all of this is to write apps that work and can be debugged.

What is the rallying cry against Lit, exactly?