How to create/write a simple XML parser from scratch?

Question

How to create/write a simple XML parser from scratch?

Rather than code samples, I want to know what are the simplified, basic steps in English.

How is a good par

Answer 1

There is a difference between a parser and a nodelist. The parser is the piece that takes a bunch of plain text XML and tries to determine what nodes are in there. Then there is an internal structure you save the nodes in. In a layer over that structure you find the DOM, the Document Object Model. This is a structure of nested nodes that make up your XML document. The parser only needs to know the generic DOM interface to create nodes.

I wouldn't use regex as a parser for this. I think the best thing is just traverse the string char by char and check if what you get matches with what you should get.

But why not use any of the existing XML parsers? There are many possibilities in encoding data. Many exceptions. And if your parsers doesn't manage them all it is hardly worth the title of XML parser.