XOM API for Processing XML with Java

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

What Bray is suggesting here is a sort of XML-aware regular expression 
language. He very well understands that current regular-expression 
languages are inadequate for handling XML.

One thing I have seen some people do is define a new, very inflexible 
syntax for XML infosets that resolves things like character entity 
references, insignificant white space, quotes around attribute values, 
and so forth; then write a program to convert XML documents into this 
new syntax; and then query the new syntax with regular expressions. It's 
a hack, but it works.

In essence Bray is here proposing to build the alternate, less-flexible 
syntax into the regular expression engine. Perhaps a good idea, but it 
does need a new engine/language. The existing ones can't do this.

--
Elliotte Rusty Harold
elharo AT metalab.unc.edu