From: Mr_Tibs <tiberiu.motoc@...>
Date: 2008-02-01T04:39:58+09:00
Subject: memory considerations when parsing XML file

Hi,

I need to quickly parse a large XML file. I didn't want to use DOM
parsing since this way you end up with the whole file in the memory. I
looked at writing my own SAX-style parser  and came across this post:
http://www.janvereecken.com/2007/4/11/event-driven-xml-parser-in-ruby.

My question is about reading the file from the hard drive into the
parse_stream method:
REXML::Document.parse_stream(File.open(filename).read, MyListener.new)
Won't File.open...read read the whole file in the memory? If yes, then
nothing was gained. I might just as well read and parse the document
using DOM since it is easier.

Thanks,
Tiberiu