Why XML Is Meant for
Java
Exploring the XML/Java Connection
By Matthew Fuchs
A close relationship between XML and Java has existed since the early days
of the XML effort. One of the first public statements about this relationship
came from Sun Microsystems' Jon Bosak, chair of the XML Working Group. He
said, "XML gives Java something to do." But it works the other way as well:
Java lets XML do something useful.
XML by itself is just a lot of text; you need a program to manipulate that
text and make things happen. Up until now, Java has been the language of choice
for writing those programs. But has this just been a marriage of convenience?
Will Java soon be supplanted by other languages, such as Perl and Python,
traditionally used for text manipulation? Or will Java remain the language
of choice, even as the other two compete for attention?
I'll examine three important aspects of the Java/XML relationship. First,
I'll look at the actual reasons for Java's success with XML, and if there
is some hidden affinity between them. Then, I'll briefly discuss two popular
programming models for manipulating XML in Java. If you use Java for manipulating
XML, you'll probably choose one of these. Thirdly, there are a couple of significant
developments on the horizon: the decision to provide a standard Java API for
manipulating XML and the current work on developing a next-generation schema
language for XML -- both of which bolster the Java/XML relationship.
