NodeIterators & Java implementation

Hi:

I've been following the discussion on NodeIterators for its entirety and
would like to make some comments.

First, without Node locking semantics in DOM, the idea of maintaining a
synchronized tree to readers and writers looks very difficult to me.  That
the NodeIterator should be robust enough to take an insertion or deletion
of children is given, but the results in a greater sense are not clear to me.

I'd also like to examine the cost of some of these operations (in Java) as
Don Parks mentioned.  Java has a high cost of object instantiation, so
object reuse is paramount to a good implementation (again, I am working on
the Server side so we are talking about large numbers of DOM nodes and
users).  The use of NodeIterator for both Attributes and child nodes is
expensive in Java where an iterator will be instantiated for examining the
Attributes and for examining the Child nodes.

My feeling is that we should make the common things fast.  If DOM trees are
built, my assumption is that readers/users will outnumber writers/producers
so that the reference operations need to be faster than the building
operations.

In AttributeList where order is not important (at least not in XML), it
seems like a waste to use the NodeIterator, when indexed access or
associative access is all that's needed.  Adding or deleting attributes
should be up to the implementor to implement efficiently - the NodeIterator
restriction limits the options for a developer.

What is the issue for using NodeIterator for AttributeList?  Is it because
it is already defined conveniently?  Is it so that Entity References can be
represented (thereby using Node rather than a simpler object for Attribute)?

-MA

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Michael Amster					mamster@webeasy.com
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 300			Tel: 310.576.0770
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292		       	Fax: 310.576.2011

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Michael Amster					mamster@webeasy.com
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 300			Tel: 310.576.0770
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292		       	Fax: 310.576.2011

Received on Wednesday, 6 May 1998 14:37:17 UTC