XML and Java: The Perfect Pair: Part 2: Java APIs for XML

Last month, in Part 1 of this 3-part article, we considered why XML and Java are two technologies which make a "perfect pair". We also covered some fundamental concepts such as validating parsers,event-based parsing, tree-based parsing, and the DOM. This month, we take a deeper look at Java APIs [1] developed for use with XML. (You are encouraged to read Part 1 first, if you haven't done so already.)

• Part 1: XML and Java: Concepts    (November 1998)
  • The Perfect Pair
  • Fundamental Concepts
• Part 2: XML and Java: APIs    (December 1998)
  • SAX, the Simple API for XML
  • Java Project X (formerly XML Library from JavaSoft)
  • IBM's XML Productivity Toolkit for Java (XPK4J)
  • W3C's DOM Level 1: Java XML API Definitions
  • Serialization APIs
    • Koala Object Markup Language (KOML)
    • Coins
  • Other Java/XML APIs
    • Docuverse DOM SDK
    • SAXON
    • XML Testbed
• Part 3: XML and Java: Tools    (January 1999)
  • XML Editors in Java
  • XML Parsers in Java
  • Specialized XML Tools in Java

SAX is by far the most popular Java API for XML at this time; it is supported or required by nearly all Java-based XML software. Sun's XML Library is quite new; it is important to watch since it may someday become a standard part of Java (although probably with different details). Newer yet is XML Productivity Kit for Java by the alphaWorks IBM research group. This article also discusses the DOM, KOML, Coins, DOM SDK, SAXON and XML Testbed.

XML and Java: The Perfect Pair: Part 1
XML and Java: SAX: Simple API for XML (Parsers)