XOM API for Processing XML with Java

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

Steve Loughran wrote:

> Can I observe that the implementation of getNamespacePrefix(int) and
> getNamespaceDeclarationCount() are both, well, aggressively suboptimal
> as they create set structures that are discarded every run. That would
> make enumerating all the namespaces an O(n*n) kind of process, rather
> than the more simpler O(n) operation that would appear to be possible.

You may observe that, as it has been observed before. However without a 
convincing use case nothing's going to change. To avoid wasting time, 
the following use cases have been presented and do not convince me:

1. Anything involving binary encodings of XML
2. Anything involving replacing part of XOM
3. Anything involving an unfinished specification
4. Anything theoretical (i.e. just something you've thought of; not 
something you actually need to do.)

There may be use cases that don't get skewered by these rules. Also, use 
cases involving currently unfinished specifications may eventually 
become realistic, practical use cases in the future if not today.

However so far no one has presented any such cases that felt compelling. 
Until someone proves me wrong by presenting such a use case, I remain 
convinced that iterating over all the namespaces of an element, either 
in-scope or declared, is a very strange thing to want to do and far 
beyond the 80-20 point. Since it is possible to iterate over namespaces 
in XOM, I have no desire to complicate the API just to make it faster.

Again, this is all subject to change if you can present a convincing use 
case.

--
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo AT metalab.unc.edu
XML in a Nutshell 3rd Edition Just Published!
http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xian3/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596007647/cafeaulaitA/ref=nosim