xmlhack: JDOM heads towards Java core

Jason Hunter writes to say that JDOM has been accepted by the Java Community Process as a Java Specification Request, JSR-102.

The JSR process will be used to create a "1.0" release of JDOM, already gaining popular acceptance over the W3C DOM as an easy and efficient API for processing XML in Java.

The acceptance of JDOM as a JSR is significant as it opens the door for JDOM to become a part of the core Java platform. Hunter writes:

JDOM will still be released as open source software, and technical discussion will continue to take place on public mailing lists. I am the Specification Lead for the JDOM JSR and am working now to set up a formal Expert Group.

For more information, read JSR-102.

JDOM is not the same thing as JAXP at all.

JAXP is an abstraction layer for DOM. It allows users to standardize some of the sections of DOM that are as yet, not standardized. So, for example, when you want to create a parser. You do not have some proprietary import and some proprietary object that you create that is unique to your particular parser. You simply use JAXP together with ANY compliant parser and there is a standard way to create your DOM Document. Changing parsers is just changing a string. So you could put the parser name say in a properties file and you would be set.

JDOM is a whole, cocreate API. It is not a universal specification that is implemented in Java and other languages like DOM. JDOM is by Java programmers, for Java programmers. It is Java optimized and uses Java built in data types and objects. If you ask for a list of elements, you don't get back some DOM created collection class like Nodelist. You get back a java.util.List. One of the core Java collection classes. JDOM has also just been submitted to the JCP so perhaps some day, it could be included right in the core. For more info check out www.jdom.org

Cheers! Hagg That's Internet for: Patrick E. Haggerty, III

Remember to be kind to rude people They are just too stupid to know any better

Clarification:

JAXP is an API for accessing XML parsers.

JDOM is a Java-tailored representation for XML documents. JDOM uses JAXP, when available.

Well, does JDOM compete with JAXP ? It seems to me that the purpose of JAXP is quiet the same as JDOM.