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Subject: XOM API for Processing XML with Java
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[[XOM-interest] ] XOM 1.4.0 released. Now with Special LLM Sauce
- From: Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo AT ibiblio.org>
- To: XOM interest <xom-interest AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [[XOM-interest] ] XOM 1.4.0 released. Now with Special LLM Sauce
- Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2026 11:29:15 +0000
I've released version 1.4.0 of XOM, my open source library for
processing XML with Java. It's available from the usual places
including Maven Central (xom:xom:1.4.0) and https://xom.nu/. This is
the first release coded with LLM assistance.
Most importantly, this release fixes a bug in URI normalization that
incorrectly resolved /.. paths when computing base URIs in canonical
XML. This is an edge condition I first noted about 20 years ago and
promptly forgot about. More recently with LLM assistance, I was able
to triage a number of old issues like this one, and then resolve it.
The LLM didn't find the bug, but it did verify it, explain it, write
tests, and code the fix.
I'm not sure exactly which model pulled off this feat. I used GitHub
Copilot which switches between different models from different vendors
for different tasks. I don't know exactly how it decides which job to
route to whom. But whichever one it selected did the job.
This release also made a number of changes in the build system and
source repository to harden the build and release process against
supply chain attacks. In particular, dependencies are now loaded from
the Maven repository system with Apache Ivy and several manual steps
have been automated. Many of these are tasks I've been wanting to do
for some time, but Copilot reduced the effort involved to the point
where they were cheap and easy.
I haven't found vibe coding or one shot development very useful for
Java or Python (yet). Even when I give an LLM a simple undergraduate
type assignment, the initial solution is still obviously lacking and
needs some expert code review. However, for individual features and
bug fixing LLMs are clearly ready for prime time, something I wouldn't
have said a year ago. This feels like the biggest improvement in
software development since test driven development in the 90's.
--
Elliotte Rusty Harold
elharo AT ibiblio.org
- [[XOM-interest] ] XOM 1.4.0 released. Now with Special LLM Sauce, Elliotte Rusty Harold, 04/06/2026
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