>When you have some abstract data-structure like the DOM, you can index it
>internally or externally.

Very true. You aren't required to use the DOM's search features; I avoid
NodeList like the plague myself, and am much more interested in the
iterators proposed for Level 2 -- see the recently released DOM Level 2
working draft. The main advantage that a built-in interator would have over
a user-written one is that it could take advantage of internal knowledge
about the DOM implementation's data structures, and hence possibly deliver
better performance. But again: If you can do better for your application,
by all means do so!

>On another note, if there is one kind of method that would help out app
>designers with the DOM is some sort of mutation listener for a node

Check out the events model, also in the working draft, and send comments to
your DOM rep or to the DOM mailing list.

______________________________________
Joe Kesselman  / IBM Research
Unless stated otherwise, all opinions are solely those of the author.



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