XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo AT metalab.unc.edu>]

At 8:49 AM -0500 9/27/02, Regier Avery J wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was very curious while perusing the JavaDoc that there are absolutely no
> Iterators in the API.
>
> Is this on purpose?  I didn't see it listed as a design consideration.
>
> In my own API's I provide type-safe (or castless) iterators that implement
> Iterator, Enumeration, and ListIterator via handy base classes.  This
> provides that the iterators returned can be used easily with virtually any
> API.  I would also provide methods such as:
>         public Foo nextFoo();
>         public Foo previousFoo();
> to provide a type safe iteration.
>
> If you have any objections to iterators, would the above approach mitigate
> those concerns?

Only partially. I prefer not to clutter the API with multiple ways of 
doing the same thing. Since indexed access is provided, I don't want 
to provide iterators too. Simplicity is a feature. If you want me to 
add a feature you have to show me that it would be a major 
simplification, or allow something to be done that cannot currently 
be done, or is better than what is in the current API and thus should 
replace what is in the current API.

There are getNextSibling() and getPreviousSibling() methods in Node.
--

+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo AT metalab.unc.edu | Writer/Programmer |
+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
|          XML in a  Nutshell, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly, 2002)          |
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|  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0596002920/cafeaulaitA/  |
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