[Python-Dev] ElementTree in stdlib

[Mike Brown]

Catching up on some python-dev email, I was surprised to see that things seem 
to be barrelling ahead with the adding of ElementTree to Python core without 
any discussion on XML-SIG. Sidestepping XML-SIG and the proving grounds of 
PyXML in order to satsify the demand for a Pythonic databinding+API for XML in 
stdlib seems to be a bit of a raised middle finger to those folks who have 
worked hard on competing or differently-scoped APIs, each of which deserves a 
bit more peer review than just a single nomination on python-dev, which seems 
to be all it took to obtain a blessing for ElementTree. I have nothing against 
ElementTree, and would like to see more XML processing options in core, but it 
seems to me like the XML-SIG is being deliberately left out of this process.

Just last month, Guido submitted to XML-SIG a Pythonic XML API that he had 
been tinkering with.[1] I don't think anyone was really bold enough to tell 
him what they really thought of it (other than that it is a lot like XIST), 
but it was admirable that he put it up for peer review rather than just 
dropping it into stdlib. Perhaps more importantly, it prompted some discussion 
that more or less acknowledged that these kinds of APIs do seem to be the 
future of XML in Python, and that we should be thinking about bringing some of 
them into PyXML and, ultimately, stdlib. But the problem of how to choose from 
the many options also became immediately apparent.[2] The discussion stalled, 
but I think it should start up again, in the proper forum, rather than letting 
the first-mentioned API supplant the dozen+ alternatives that could also be 
considered as candidates.[3]

Sorry to be a sourpuss.

Mike
-- 

[1] http://mail.python.org/pipermail/xml-sig/2005-November/011248.html
     (Guido's very civil proposal and request for peer review)
[2] http://mail.python.org/pipermail/xml-sig/2005-November/011252.html (this
     also summarizes the categories of software/approaches that people are
     taking to the general problem of working with XML Pythonically)
[3] http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/10/13/py-xml.html (and there are at least
     3 more databinding APIs that have come out since then)