[whatwg/dom] [idea] HTMLElement.empty() (#955)

A common thing to do when manipulating DOM elements is "emptying" an element, i.e. removing all its child nodes. There are currently a few solutions to this; let me list the most obvious ones.
```
element.innerHTML = '';
```
This solution is semi-readable, but invokes the DOM parser (unless specifically optimized for by the browser).
```
element.textContent = '';
```
Similar to the previous one, but less readable (as the intended operation doesn't really have anything to do with the text content specifically). This is supposedly more performant than `innerHTML`.
```
while(element.firstChild){
    element.removeChild(element.lastChild);
}
```
there are various variations on this one, none of them marginally better than another. This solution works, but requires three lines of code for a simple operation that, in my opinion, should be standardized.

So, I propose adding a method like `.empty()` to the Node interface. What are your thoughts on this?

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Received on Sunday, 28 February 2021 19:00:32 UTC