XOM API for Processing XML with Java

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

At 12:58 PM -0600 1/21/04, DHollenbeck wrote:

> On this basis, I would think that an object of this type is optimal 
> speed/size tradeoff:
>
> char[]
>
> Yes, just a char[] array.  One that can be passed to the String() constructor.

Currently I'm using a byte[] array in Text. Most of the strings in 
other classes (e.g. element names, namespace prefixes, etc.) are 
interned which helps a lot.

> Also, at some point I would have incorporated the embedded ArrayList 
> object's functionality that you have in your Node hierarchy into the 
> parent Node class itself.  You'll get both speed and memory pickup 
> doing this.
> i.e. make your Node (or whatever the parent class is) incorporate 
> the [customized] functionality of ArrayList into its methods such 
> that you no longer need to include ArrayList as a member.  You will 
> reduce the Java Object count by the number of Nodes in the XML 
> document, this means less memory, faster instantiation time, etc.

I might try this post 1.0. It should be doable completely in the 
private parts. It would need profiling to prove that it really works. 
A couple of other benfits I see to this approach:

1. It would make it easier to back port to 1.1 if I don't depend on 
the Collections API.
2. Debugging would be easier because variable inspection would have 
one less level of indirection.
--

  Elliotte Rusty Harold
  elharo AT metalab.unc.edu
  Effective XML (Addison-Wesley, 2003)
  http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/effectivexml
  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0321150406/ref%3Dnosim/cafeaulaitA