React has a VirtualDOM which arguably make is performant.
Who told you that? It is not true. In very, very few cases with extra large set of data to be rendered instantly (what is a huge mistake already because average user reaction is 300ms and screen physical size is very limited, rendering thousand of rows, which is impossible to display to user at the same time, are not needed, it is just a waste of resources) you may see a very small performance comparing to Vanilla JS, however, Vanilla JS implementation in such tests should be better and then, of course, in 100% case Vanilla JS is a fastest approach using minimum memory.
Absolutely contrary - virtual DOM is a waste for performance and moreover - it eats memory.
does Angular have a Virtual DOM
No, because it is not needed, it is only the waste of time and resources, and it just adds an extra complexity. Virtual DOM is Facebook's virtual problem which was very good marketed. People believe Facebook's fake news very often.
If it doesn’t, do yo think Angular should ship with a Virtual DOM?
Of course, no.
Also - Angular is dead. Use JavaScript or Vue/React at least.
Nishant Agrwal