feat: Add ui.component memoization and selective re-rendering

plugins/ui/docs/add-interactivity/memoizing-components.md

@@ -0,0 +1,319 @@
+# Memoizing Components
+
+The `memo` parameter on `@ui.component` optimizes component rendering by skipping re-renders when a component's props haven't changed. This is similar to [React.memo](https://react.dev/reference/react/memo) and is useful for improving performance in components that render often with the same props.
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> The `memo` parameter is for memoizing entire components. To memoize a value or computation within a component, use the [`use_memo`](../hooks/use_memo.md) hook instead.
+
+## Basic Usage
+
+Add `memo=True` to your component to skip re-renders when props are unchanged:
+
+```python
+from deephaven import ui
+
+
+@ui.component(memo=True)
+def greeting(name):
+    print(f"Rendering greeting for {name}")
+    return ui.text(f"Hello, {name}!")
+
+
+@ui.component
+def app():
+    count, set_count = ui.use_state(0)
+
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.button("Increment", on_press=lambda: set_count(count + 1)),
+        ui.text(f"Count: {count}"),
+        greeting("World"),  # Won't re-render when count changes
+        direction="column",
+    )
+
+
+app_example = app()
+```
+
+In this example, clicking the button increments `count`, causing `app` to re-render. However, `greeting` will not re-render because its prop (`"World"`) hasn't changed.
+
+## How It Works
+
+By default, when a parent component re-renders, all of its child components re-render too. With `memo=True`, `deephaven.ui` compares the new props with the previous props using shallow equality. If all props are equal, the component skips rendering and reuses its previous result.
+
+The render cycle with memoization:
+
+1. **Trigger**: Parent component state changes
+2. **Render**: Parent re-renders, but memoized children with unchanged props are skipped
+3. **Commit**: Only changed parts of the UI are updated
+
+## When to Use `memo`
+
+Use `memo=True` when:
+
+- A component renders often with the same props
+- A component is expensive to render (complex calculations, many children)
+- A parent component re-renders frequently but passes stable props to children
+
+Don't use `memo` when:
+
+- The component's props change on almost every render
+- The component is cheap to render
+- You're prematurely optimizing without measuring performance
+
+```python
+from deephaven import ui
+
+
+# Good candidate: renders same static content while parent updates
+@ui.component(memo=True)
+def expensive_chart(data):
+    # Imagine this does complex data processing
+    return ui.text(f"Chart with {len(data)} points")
+
+
+# Not a good candidate: props change every render
+@ui.component
+def live_counter(count):
+    return ui.text(f"Count: {count}")
+
+
+@ui.component
+def dashboard():
+    count, set_count = ui.use_state(0)
+    chart_data = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]  # Static data
+
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.button("Update", on_press=lambda: set_count(count + 1)),
+        live_counter(count),  # No benefit from memo - count always changes
+        expensive_chart(chart_data),  # Benefits from memo - data is stable
+        direction="column",
+    )
+
+
+dashboard_example = dashboard()
+```
+
+## Custom Comparison Function
+
+By default, `memo=True` uses shallow equality to compare props. You can provide a custom comparison function by passing it directly to `memo`:
+
+```python
+from deephaven import ui
+
+
+def compare_by_id(prev_props, next_props):
+    """Only re-render if the 'id' prop changes."""
+    return prev_props.get("id") == next_props.get("id")
+
+
+@ui.component(memo=compare_by_id)
+def user_card(id, name, last_updated):
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.text(f"User #{id}"),
+        ui.text(f"Name: {name}"),
+        ui.text(f"Updated: {last_updated}"),
+        direction="column",
+    )
+
+
+@ui.component
+def user_profile():
+    name, set_name = ui.use_state("Alice")
+    timestamp, set_timestamp = ui.use_state("12:00")
+
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.button("Update timestamp", on_press=lambda: set_timestamp("12:01")),
+        ui.button("Change name", on_press=lambda: set_name("Bob")),
+        # Only re-renders if id changes, not name or last_updated
+        user_card(id=1, name=name, last_updated=timestamp),
+        direction="column",
+    )
+
+
+user_profile_example = user_profile()
+```
+
+The custom comparison function receives two dictionaries:
+
+- `prev_props`: The props from the previous render
+- `next_props`: The props for the current render
+
+Return `True` to skip re-rendering (props are "equal"), or `False` to re-render.
+
+### Deep Equality Comparison
+
+For props containing nested data structures, you might want deep equality:
+
+```python
+from deephaven import ui
+
+
+def deep_equal(prev_props, next_props):
+    """Compare props using deep equality."""
+    import json
+
+    return json.dumps(prev_props, sort_keys=True) == json.dumps(
+        next_props, sort_keys=True
+    )
+
+
+@ui.component(memo=deep_equal)
+def data_display(config):
+    return ui.text(f"Config: {config}")
+
+
+@ui.component
+def app():
+    count, set_count = ui.use_state(0)
+
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.button("Increment", on_press=lambda: set_count(count + 1)),
+        # Even though a new dict is created each render, deep_equal
+        # will detect the values are the same and skip re-rendering
+        data_display(config={"setting": "value", "enabled": True}),
+        direction="column",
+    )
+
+
+app_example = app()
+```
+
+### Threshold-Based Comparison
+
+You can implement more sophisticated comparison logic:
+
+```python
+from deephaven import ui
+
+
+def significant_change(prev_props, next_props, threshold=5):
+    """Only re-render if value changes by more than threshold."""
+    prev_value = prev_props.get("value", 0)
+    next_value = next_props.get("value", 0)
+    return abs(next_value - prev_value) <= threshold
+
+
+@ui.component(memo=significant_change)
+def progress_bar(value):
+    return ui.progress_bar(value=value, label=f"{value}%")
+
+
+@ui.component
+def app():
+    value, set_value = ui.use_state(0)
+
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.button("+1", on_press=lambda: set_value(value + 1)),
+        ui.button("+10", on_press=lambda: set_value(value + 10)),
+        # Only re-renders when value changes by more than 5
+        progress_bar(value=value),
+        direction="column",
+    )
+
+
+app_example = app()
+```
+
+## Syntax Options
+
+The `memo` parameter accepts different values:
+
+```python skip-test
+# Memoization disabled (default behavior)
+@ui.component
+def my_component(prop):
+    return ui.text(prop)
+
+
+# Memoization with shallow comparison
+@ui.component(memo=True)
+def my_memoized_component(prop):
+    return ui.text(prop)
+
+
+# Memoization with custom comparison function
+@ui.component(memo=my_custom_compare)
+def my_component_custom(prop):
+    return ui.text(prop)
+```
+
+## Common Pitfalls
+
+### Creating New Objects in Props
+
+When you pass a new object, list, or dictionary as a prop, it will always be a different reference, causing re-renders even if the content is the same:
+
+```python
+from deephaven import ui
+
+
+@ui.component(memo=True)
+def item_list(items):
+    return ui.flex(*[ui.text(item) for item in items], direction="column")
+
+
+@ui.component
+def app():
+    count, set_count = ui.use_state(0)
+
+    # BAD: Creates a new list on every render
+    # item_list will re-render every time even though content is the same
+    items_bad = ["apple", "banana"]
+
+    # GOOD: Use use_memo to keep the same reference
+    items_good = ui.use_memo(lambda: ["apple", "banana"], [])
+
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.button("Increment", on_press=lambda: set_count(count + 1)),
+        ui.text(f"Count: {count}"),
+        item_list(items_good),  # Won't re-render unnecessarily
+        direction="column",
+    )
+
+
+app_example = app()
+```
+
+### Passing Callback Functions
+
+Lambda functions and inline function definitions create new references each render:
+
+```python
+from deephaven import ui
+
+
+@ui.component(memo=True)
+def button_row(on_click):
+    return ui.button("Click me", on_press=on_click)
+
+
+@ui.component
+def app():
+    count, set_count = ui.use_state(0)
+
+    # BAD: Creates a new function reference every render
+    # handle_click_bad = lambda: print("clicked")
+
+    # GOOD: Use use_callback to memoize the function
+    handle_click_good = ui.use_callback(lambda: print("clicked"), [])
+
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.button("Increment", on_press=lambda: set_count(count + 1)),
+        button_row(on_click=handle_click_good),  # Won't re-render unnecessarily
+        direction="column",
+    )
+
+
+app_example = app()
+```
+
+## Comparison with `use_memo`
+
+| Feature | `memo` parameter              | `use_memo`             |
+| ------- | ----------------------------- | ---------------------- |
+| Purpose | Skip re-rendering a component | Cache a computed value |
+| Usage   | Parameter on `@ui.component`  | Hook inside component  |
+| Input   | Component props               | Dependencies array     |
+| Output  | Memoized component            | Memoized value         |
+
+Use `memo=True` on `@ui.component` to optimize component rendering. Use `use_memo` to optimize expensive calculations within a component.

plugins/ui/docs/add-interactivity/render-cycle.md

@@ -125,3 +125,39 @@ clock_example = clock_wrapper()
 This works because during this last step, React only updates the content of `ui.header` with the new time. It sees that the `ui.text_field` appears in the JSX in the same place as last time, so React doesn’t touch the `ui.text_field` or its value.
 
 After rendering is done and React updated the DOM, the browser will repaint the screen.
+
+## Optimizing Re-renders with `memo`
+
+By default, when any component's state changes, `deephaven.ui` re-renders the entire component tree from the root—not just the component that triggered the change or its children, but every component in the tree. This is usually not a problem, but if you have a deeply nested tree or expensive components, you can optimize performance by using the `memo` parameter on `@ui.component`.
+
+The `memo` parameter tells `deephaven.ui` to skip re-rendering a component when its props haven't changed:
+
+```python
+from deephaven import ui
+
+
+@ui.component(memo=True)
+def expensive_child(value):
+    # This component will only re-render when `value` changes
+    return ui.text(f"Value: {value}")
+
+
+@ui.component
+def parent():
+    count, set_count = ui.use_state(0)
+    static_value = "hello"
+
+    return ui.flex(
+        ui.button("Increment", on_press=lambda: set_count(count + 1)),
+        ui.text(f"Count: {count}"),
+        # This child won't re-render when count changes because static_value stays the same
+        expensive_child(static_value),
+    )
+
+
+parent_example = parent()
+```
+
+In this example, clicking the button updates `count`, which causes `parent` to re-render. However, `expensive_child` will skip re-rendering because its `value` prop (`"hello"`) hasn't changed.
+
+For more details on when and how to use memoization effectively, see [Memoizing Components](./memoizing-components.md).

plugins/ui/docs/sidebar.json

@@ -81,6 +81,10 @@
                 "label": "Render Cycle",
                 "path": "add-interactivity/render-cycle.md"
               },
+              {
+                "label": "Memoizing Components",
+                "path": "add-interactivity/memoizing-components.md"
+              },
               {
                 "label": "State as a Snapshot",
                 "path": "add-interactivity/state-as-a-snapshot.md"

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