1. A method of parsing an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document in hardware, the method comprising: reading a sequence of characters from the document; identifying a token within the sequence of characters; if the token comprises a symbol: searching a symbol table for the token; and if the symbol table includes the token: extracting from the symbol table a numeric value representing the token; and generating a token header describing the token, wherein the token header includes the numeric value representing the token in a binary numerical representation.
1. A method of parsing an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document in hardware, the method comprising: reading a sequence of characters from the document; identifying a token within the sequence of characters; if the token comprises a symbol: searching a symbol table for the token; and if the symbol table includes the token: extracting from the symbol table a numeric value representing the token; and generating a token header describing the token, wherein the token header includes the numeric value representing the token in a binary numerical representation. 4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, if the token comprises a symbol: if the symbol table does not include the token: generating said numeric value to represent the token; and adding the token and said numeric value to the hardware symbol table.