XOM API for Processing XML with Java

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

There are currently two removeChild methods in ParentNode:

    public void removeChild(int position)
    public void removeChild(Node child)


They both throw various exceptions if the child is not in fact a child 
of the parent node. I have an open item to decide whther void is the 
appropriate return type. Should one or both of these methods perhaps 
return the node removed? That is, should they be changed to:

    public Node removeChild(int position)
    public Node removeChild(Node child)

Note that this is *not* for method invocation chaining because what's 
returned is an argument or a previously unknown node, *not* the node 
from which the child was removed and which invoked removeChild.

I have at least one sample program for removeChild(int position) where 
this makes sense and would simplify my code.

I don't think this would break anybody's existing code. It would not 
make the API noticeably more complex. After all, it's easy to ignore the 
return value if you don't need it. Does this change offend anybody's 
sensibilities for any reason?

Second question: does it make sense for both methods to return the node 
removed? or just the one that removes by position? After all, when the 
method removes a specific child node, you must already have a reference 
to that node. Then again, it may be conceptually cleaner for both 
removeChild methods to return the same thing. Thoughts?

--
Elliotte