SAX is a simple, common, event-based API for XML parsers written in
object-oriented languages like Java, C++, or Perl5 (the reference
implementation is in Java). SAX is similar in philosophy to
JavaSoft's JDBC -- it allows you to write an application once, then
plug in any XML parser that has a SAX driver, just as the JDBC allows
you to plug in any SQL database that has a JDBC driver. The SAX API
was developed collaboratively during a month of discussion on the
XML-DEV mailing list.
As an event-based interface, SAX is complementary to the proposed
(tree-based) Document Object Model interface; in fact, it should be
possible to implement a basic DOM interface on top of SAX, or a basic
SAX interface on top of DOM. Event-based interfaces provide very
simple, low-level access to parsing events, without straining system
resources.
For SAX documentation, a draft spec, a reference implementation of the
SAX interfaces in Java, SAX front-end drivers for the major Java XML
parsers (NXP, Lark, MSXML, and Ūlfred), and a sample SAX application,
please see
http://www.microstar.com/XML/SAX/
I would like people to play with this for a month or two, during which
time I'll collect suggestions and bug reports; after that, with luck,
we can come up with a final draft. I may continue to work on the SAX
drivers during that time, but I want to leave the rest alone for a
while.
All the best,
David
--
David Megginson ak117@freenet.carleton.ca
Microstar Software Ltd. dmeggins@microstar.com
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/dmeggins/
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