In this chapter, we looked at JAXP, an API that supports processing of XML documents using DOM, SAX, and XSLT. It enables apps to parse or transform XML documents independently of a particular XML processing implementation.

The advantage of XML is that it can be understood across coding languages and across platforms. Java has multiple ways to achieve the same end; similarly, there are many ways to manipulate and use this XML.

From an architect's perspective, the app must be analyzed, to make the appropriate decision about how to use XML. Architecturally, JAXP is just a tool that developers can use to do something useful in the business context with that XML. Its simplicity, standard API, reliance on industry-accepted XML standards, and pluggable architecture give Java developers the ability to manipulate XML for Web services independently of a particular vendor's parser implementation.