[jdom-interest] JDOM vs. Java XML Data Binding

[Michael Brennan]

No, it won't kill JDOM. I doubt it will kill anything. Since there is no
public draft of the XML Data Binding, yet, I can't pass any judgement on its
approach. I am very sceptical, though, of any attempt to establish a
one-size-fits-all standard approach to XML data binding. I'll believe it
when I see it. It's also worth keeping in mind that data-binding approaches
require that you know at development-time the structure of the XML you will
be dealing with; that isn't always possible.

Personally, I think the JCP is out of control. There has been much talk in
the XML community, of late, that XML has become too complex and there are
too many specs trying to standardize too much. I think the same could be
said of the JCP. In my mind, the attempt to establish a standard
data-binding mechanism for the Java platform was a questionable endeavor to
being with. It would have been better to let individual innovations pave the
way on this until some proven, seasoned approaches clearly rose above
others. That only comes with a track record of real world experience. The
fact that the XML Data Binding JSR was approved in August of 1999 and they
still don't have a spec should be strong clue to outsiders that this effort
is probably not going too smoothly (or at least not very quickly). At the
very least, this effort was premature.

I think it would be a good idea for anyone to view this activity with
skepticism and not hold your breath. Even if they do succeed, there will
always be a need for multiple approaches (and tools) for dealing with XML.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Aleksi Kallio [mailto:makallio at saunalahti.fi]
> Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 9:02 AM
> To: jdom-interest at jdom.org
> Subject: [jdom-interest] JDOM vs. Java XML Data Binding
> 
> 
> I hope this isn't an overly discussed topic here..
> 
> What are you opinions on Merlin (ie. JDK 1.4) and its Java 
> XML Data Binding? Will it kill JDOM? Will they coexist? Is it 
> even reasonably to compare them?