XML document models

All the XML document models have a great deal in common when it comes to their APIs (no big surprise, since they're all working with the same underlying data), but each has some quirks that distinguishes it from the others. The original W3C Document Object Model (DOM) was designed for cross-language and cross-platform compatibility, so it builds on interfaces and avoids using Java-specific collections in favor of its own versions. JDOM uses concrete classes rather than interfaces and incorporates the standard Java collections classes for an API that many Java developers find friendlier than DOM. dom4j combines DOM-like interfaces with Java collections classes for a very flexible API that offers a lot of power -- at the cost of some complexity.

AXIOM has a lot in common with these other document models. It also has a few significant differences related to its on-demand build process, along with some specialized features to support its use in Web services.

 

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-java2/index.html?S_TACT=105AGX52&S_CMP=cn-a-ws