A parser uses SAX-like APIs for efficiency and provides DOM-like APIs for simplicity and convenience. The parser can read an XML document, for example, and parse its contents into a set of abstract information containers called nodes. The nodes are used to represent the structure and content of the document, which allows applications to read and manipulate the information in the document while not having to explicitly understand XML syntax. After a document is parsed, the nodes can be explored in any direction; they are not limited to straight-through text file processing.