This two-part article offers an introduction to the Xerces-C++ XML library. Part 1 explains how to link the library into applications written in Linux and Windows. Ample code demonstrates parsing with the SAX API, and a sample application shows you how to create a bar graph in ASCII art. In Part 2, I'll demonstrate how to load, manipulate, or synthesize a DOM document, and you'll see how to create the same bar graph using Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). C++ programmers who read these articles should be able to easily add XML parsing and processing capabilities to their applications.

RXP is a validating parser written in C that creates a non-DOM tree representation of XML documents. While RXP itself is not well documented -- and not for the faint of heart -- at least two excellent higher level APIs have been built on top of RXP: pyRXP, a Python binding; and LT XML, a collection of utilities and libraries. In this article, David introduces you to RXP, compares it with the expat parser, and briefly discusses pyRXP and LT XML as ways of taking advantage of the speed RXP has to offer without all of its complexity.