Sun Bridges the XML-Java Gap

Sun Microsystems Inc. this week released its Java API for XML Parsing, an application
programming interface it hopes will serve as a common interface for
developers using XML.

Sun (SUNW), which originally created Java, released JAXP in an attempt to bridge
Java to XML and expand their appeal to e-commerce sites by ensuring
compatibility across various XML parsers.

The delivery of JAXP will enable Sun to complete its initial steps of
providing essential XML functionality to the Java 2 platform, a statement released by
the company said. JAXP’s availability is the first phase of Sun’s vision of
simplifying the way developers build cross-platform, business-to-business
applications based on XML and Java technologies.

With JAXP, a parser automatically dissects and reads XML text in an
application. Until this product, developers had to write software code to
connect Java code to the parser.

JAXP is part of the JAXP Optional Package, which can be downloaded free-of-charge
from Sun’s site.

The JAXP Optional Package provides core XML functionality for reading,
manipulating, and generating XML documents through pure Java APIs. The
software provides a standardized way to seamlessly integrate any
XML-compliant parser with a Java-based application. Depending on the needs
of the application, developers have the flexibility to swap between XML
parsers (e.g., high-performance or memory-conservative parsers) without
changing application code. Thus, application and tools developers can
rapidly and easily XML-enable their Java applications for e-commerce,
application integration, and dynamic web publishing.

Although Java Project X is used as the default XML parser in JAXP, the
software’s pluggable architecture allows any XML-conformant parser to be
used, such as xml.apache.org’s XML parser.

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