6.3 plasTeX.DOM — The plasT_eX Document Object Model (DOM)

While most L^aT_eX processors use a stream model where the input is directly connected to the output, plasT_eX actually works in two phases. The first phase reads in the L^aT_eX document, expands macros, and constructs an object similar to an XML DOM. This object is then passed to the renderer which translates it into the appropriate output format. The benefit to doing it this way is that you are not limited to a single output format. In addition, you can actually apply multiple renderers with only one parse step. This section describes the DOM used by plasT_eX, its API, and the similarities and differences between the plasT_eX DOM and the XML DOM.