Bogdan Bivolaru wrote:
Hello,
I have read that Python (community) intends to make Python the best
language for XML processing, however that was in a book published in
2004, how is its state now?
Hi, Bogdan.
I'm not sure that goal was ever shared by the Python community at large
(partly because Guido himself has been a bit scornful of XML, at least
in the past), but that is still the stated objective on the web page you
get to if you follow the "Community" links to the XML special interest
group. Unfortunately, the Python XML story is in a little bit of
disarray at the moment. As you point out yourself, the library which
that web page recommends hasn't been maintained for years. There are
alternate candidates, but it's not clear which to adopt for future
projects. Part of the problem is that none of the packages in the
standard library have any support for validating XML, and suggestions
that such support would be useful (particularly in light of the SIG's
stated goal to "make Python /the/ premier language for XML processing"
[1]) are dismissed on the grounds that (1) most programmers don't want
to validate the XML they get; and (2) there are too many possible
validation techniques available, so we won't support any in the standard
library. There is support for validation in lxml, but having been
burned once by building software against the predecessor of that
package, only to have it abandoned, it's easy to understand reluctance
to convert everything to depend on yet another package which isn't
officially supported as part of the standard library.
Sorry for the wet blanket, but I'm afraid that's how things stand right now.
[1] http://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/xml-sig/
--
Bob Kline
http://www.rksystems.com
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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