[Tutor] Trying to parse a HUGE(1gb) xml file in python

[Stefan Behnel]

Alan Gauld, 21.12.2010 10:46:
> You don't have to use it for data transfer - eg MS's use
> as a document storage format in Office - but frankly if
> you use XML to store large volumes of data you are mad,
> a database is a much more sensible option being far more
> space efficient and faster to work with.

Even "storing large volumes of data" in XML can be perfectly ok. It depends 
on the use case. Database storage formats are not generally portable, for 
example, but they provide fast online access. Totally different use cases. 
Nothing's inherently wrong with storing large amounts of data in 
(compressed) XML for medium to long term storage or data exchange, and 
loading them back into a database to make the data quickly accessible for 
heavy processing.

Stefan