1. A computer implemented method for processing a hierarchically structured document, comprising the steps of: creating a first state variable table having a first set of state variables; creating a first reference to the first state variable table, said first reference to the first state variable table being associated with a structure portion of a predetermined hierarchical level of the document; creating, for said predetermined hierarchical level of the document when a content portion of said predetermined hierarchical level is processed, a second state variable table and copying the first set of state variables to a second set of state variables of the second state variable table; processing said content portion of said predetermined hierarchical level using a second reference to said second state variable table; determining if processing of content for said predetermined hierarchical level is finished; processing a structure portion of a first subsequent hierarchical level, wherein said first subsequent hierarchical level is lower in the hierarchical structure of the document than the predetermined hierarchical level; copying one of the first and second references to a third reference associated with the structure portion of the first subsequent hierarchical level; processing a structure portion of a second subsequent hierarchical level, wherein said second subsequent hierarchical level is lower in the hierarchical structure of the document than the first subsequent hierarchical level; creating, for said second subsequent hierarchical level of the document when a content portion of said second subsequent hierarchical level is processed, a third state variable table referenced by a fourth reference and copying the set of state variables referred to by the third reference to a third set of state variables in the third state variable table; processing said content portion of said second subsequent hierarchical level using the fourth reference to said third set of state variables; determining if processing of said content portion of said second subsequent hierarchical level is finished; and copying the fourth reference to the third reference, when said processing of said content portion of said second subsequent hierarchical level is determined to be finished.
1. A computer implemented method for processing a hierarchically structured document, comprising the steps of: creating a first state variable table having a first set of state variables; creating a first reference to the first state variable table, said first reference to the first state variable table being associated with a structure portion of a predetermined hierarchical level of the document; creating, for said predetermined hierarchical level of the document when a content portion of said predetermined hierarchical level is processed, a second state variable table and copying the first set of state variables to a second set of state variables of the second state variable table; processing said content portion of said predetermined hierarchical level using a second reference to said second state variable table; determining if processing of content for said predetermined hierarchical level is finished; processing a structure portion of a first subsequent hierarchical level, wherein said first subsequent hierarchical level is lower in the hierarchical structure of the document than the predetermined hierarchical level; copying one of the first and second references to a third reference associated with the structure portion of the first subsequent hierarchical level; processing a structure portion of a second subsequent hierarchical level, wherein said second subsequent hierarchical level is lower in the hierarchical structure of the document than the first subsequent hierarchical level; creating, for said second subsequent hierarchical level of the document when a content portion of said second subsequent hierarchical level is processed, a third state variable table referenced by a fourth reference and copying the set of state variables referred to by the third reference to a third set of state variables in the third state variable table; processing said content portion of said second subsequent hierarchical level using the fourth reference to said third set of state variables; determining if processing of said content portion of said second subsequent hierarchical level is finished; and copying the fourth reference to the third reference, when said processing of said content portion of said second subsequent hierarchical level is determined to be finished. 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: creating an entry in a stack for the predetermined and the first subsequent hierarchical levels of the document, each entry in the stack including a reference to a set of references corresponding to structure of a corresponding hierarchical level and used during processing of the corresponding hierarchical level, and including a reference to a set of references corresponding to content of a corresponding hierarchical level and used during processing of a content portion of the corresponding hierarchical level.