Nice quote

[Peter Hansen]

Jeremy Bowers wrote:
> 
> On Sat, 29 Mar 2003 07:54:58 -0500, Peter wrote:
> > Basically, he was conveying that Python people don't find processing XML
> > to be a huge problem in any particular way, and I think that's a fair
> > assessment.  IMHO.
> 
> I didn't take his statement that way because it doesn't make sense some to
> me. I've done SAX and DOM in both Perl and Python and they are equal pains
> in the ass.

I would not be one to characterize either SAX or DOM as anything other
than pains in the ass.  That doesn't reflect on Python, though, AFAIAC.

> You may consider XML processing not a particular pain but I think that's
> more a personal judgment then anything else, because I don't see Python
> granting a huge advantage over Perl. 

a) Of _course_ it's a personal judgment.

b) I'm not clear why you think anyone was saying there's a "huge 
advantage" over Perl.  They weren't! (I suspect)  They simply were
saying they didn't see there being a big problem in Python-land.  
If those who spend their time in Perl-land complain a lot more than
those in Python-land, perhaps one can start to draw some conclusions,
but one of those might simply be that Perl-folk are so stressed they
need to vent some anger, while Python-folk are pretty happy in their
daily lives. :-)

> The criticisms Tim Bray leveled against current XML programming 
> paradigms still seems to hold in Python as well as anything else. 

Perhaps... is it possible that although SAX and DOM are pains in the
ass, using Python to do it leads many (me included) to think "no real
problem here"?  That's certainly how I feel.  Although some improvement
would be nice, it's not like I spend every hour of my waking life doing 
XML stuff, so maybe it's just good enough to avoid me feeling like I
need to complain.

> At best Python XML processing is at most a small linear improvement 
> over Perl.

That sounds very much like a personal judgment to me. <wink>

(I've never understood why people think personal judgments, 
a.k.a. "opinions", are such a bad thing... every has them, but
nobody likes them? :-)

-Peter