Handling XML file in Java, nodes confusion

Question

I am trying to parse XML file in Java and it works just fine, but I do not really get why. I have the following code (I just snipped important things):

DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();

Document document = builder.parse(new File(fileName));

NodeList nodeList = document.getDocumentElement().getChildNodes();

for (int i = 0; i < nodeList.getLength(); i++)
  {
   Node node = nodeList.item(i);

   if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
   Element elem = (Element) node;

   // Get the value of all sub-elements.
   String original = elem.getElementsByTagName("Original")
         .item(0).getChildNodes().item(0).getNodeValue();

   String translation = elem.getElementsByTagName("Translation").item(0)
         .getChildNodes().item(0).getNodeValue();

   Integer score = Integer.parseInt(elem.getElementsByTagName("Score")
         .item(0).getChildNodes().item(0).getNodeValue());
}

My XML is simple one:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <Dictionary>
         <Word>
              <Original>die Unterwäsche</Original >
              <Translation>Bielizna</Translation>
              <Score>-4</Score>
         </Word>
         <Word>
              <Original>die Müche</Original>
              <Translation>Fatyga, trud</Translation>
              <Score>0</Score>
         </Word>
         <Word>
              <Original>wetten</Original>
              <Translation>założyć się</Translation>
              <Score>-6</Score>
         </Word>
         <Word>
              <Original>umsonst</Original>
              <Translation>Bez powodu</Translation>
              <Score>0</Score>
         </Word>
    </Dictionary>

Big question is: why I have 9 nodes when calling nodeList.getLength() ? I printed them and 4 are elements (it seems fine) and 5 others are text nodes, but I do not really get what they are. And why is Node casted on Element?

Second thing is this part:

elem.getElementsByTagName("Score")
         .item(0).getChildNodes().item(0).getNodeValue());

I am calling item(0) on a found node, but again, what is it practically?

I would really appreciate your help, I am quite beginner and I am struggling with it for a while now. Posting step-by-step guide what is what with parts of my XML listed would mean a world to me.

Answer 1

why I have 9 nodes when calling nodeList.getLength() ?

The 9 nodes are:

1 of <Document>
4 of <Word>
4 of Everything between <Word>

5 others are text nodes, but I do not really get what they are

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Dictionary>                         <-- null text
    <Word>                           <-- null text
        <Original>...
        <Translation>...
        <Score>...
    </Word>
    <Word>                           <-- null text
        <Original>...
        <Translation>...
        <Score>...
    </Word>
    <Word>                           <-- null text
        <Original>...
        <Translation>...
        <Score>...
    </Word>
    <Word>                           <-- null text
        <Original>...
        <Translation>...
        <Score>...
    </Word>
</Dictionary>

And why is Node casted on Element?

To answer this last part, I refer you to another post: What's the difference between an element and a node in XML?