XOM API for Processing XML with Java

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

At 4:32 PM -0500 3/9/04, jcowan AT reutershealth.com wrote:

> Unfortunately, I think this is the important one, because it's not
> replaceable.  If you foresee a problem with serializing, you can use a
> different serializer, but Element.copy and Element(anElement) are critical
> parts of the API.  And if you are running a server that is meant to handle
> arbitrary incoming documents (and assuming you have some check for gross
> size), then blowing up on nesting depth is really not acceptable.

How much nesting would typically be required to expose this? 
Personally, I've never noticed this problem when recursively 
processing a document with XOM or other APIs. How far can Java 
programs recurse before the stack blow up? Hundreds? Thousands? 
Millions? I have noticed when I accidentally write an infinite 
recursion it takes on the order of a minute before the program comes 
crashing down around me. That suggests it can go pretty deep.

> A way to avoid the API wart would be to check if the element to be copied
> is an actual Element or a subclass, and in the latter case, using
> sourceElement.getClass().newInstance() to call the argless constructor.

But the subclass may not have a no-args constructor.
--

  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