This paper provides an objective evaluation of the performance impacts of binary XML encodings, using a fast stream-based XQuery processor as our representative application. Instead of proposing one binary format and comparing it against standard XML parsers, we investigate the individual effects of several binary encoding techniques that are shared by many proposals. Our goal is to provide a deeper understanding of the performance impacts of binary XML encodings in order to clarify the ongoing and often contentious debate over their merits, particularly in the domain of high performance XML stream processing. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3.4 [Systems and Software]: Distributed systems, information networks, Performance evaluation (efficiency and effectivness) General Terms Performance, Algorithms Keywords XPath processing, XML binary formats
Roberto J. Bayardo Jr., Daniel Gruhl, Vanja Josifo