Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced the immediate availability of the Java API for XML Parsing Optional Package (JAXP). JAXP is now available free-of-charge at . JAXP’s availability is the first phase of Sun’s vision to make it easy for developers to build cross-platform business-to-business applications based on XML and Java technologies. The JAXP Optional Package provides core XML functionality for reading, manipulating, and generating XML documents through pure Java APIs. It provides a standard way to integrate any XML-compliant parser with a Java technology-based application. Depending on the needs of the application, developers have the flexibility to swap between XML parsers — such as high performance or memory conservative parsers without changing application code. Java Project X is used as the default XML parser in JAXP; however, the software’s pluggable architecture allows any XML-conformant parser to be used, including the xml.apache.org XML parser, code named Xerces. Through the JCP, JAXP is being considered for inclusion in the next releases of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE). Also in development is Project Adelard, a facility for generating Java classes from XML DTDs. Other XML initiatives include improved XML support in JavaServer Pages technology using XSLT and extensive XML support in J2EE, such as XML data transcoding to multiple devices, XML data exchange framework and XML support in Enterprise JavaBeans components. www.sun.com