What is the DOM in web development?

The Document Object Model (DOM) is a programming interface that represents the structure of a web document. It allows developers to manipulate the content, structure, and style of a document dynamically and programmatically using a variety of programming languages, with JavaScript being the most commonly used.

Using the DOM, developers can access and modify HTML elements, attributes, and text content, enabling dynamic updates to the web page without requiring a full page reload. This is fundamental for creating interactive and engaging user experiences on the web.

The other options do not accurately describe the DOM: a scripting language for front-end design refers to tools used to implement the designs but does not define the document structure itself; a server-side technology for web applications pertains to the backend operations, which is unrelated to the structured representation of a document; and a framework for managing user sessions focuses on authentication and state management, rather than document structure. Thus, the choice that highlights the DOM’s role as a programming interface is the most accurate representation.