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

[Alan Gauld]

"David Hutto" <smokefloat at gmail.com> wrote

>> (*)ASN.1, IDL etc all rely on a shared definition, and
>> often shared code library, at both sender and receiver.
>
> This I might have to work on, but I rely on experience to 
> quasi-trust
> experience.

These are all data transport formats agreed and standardised
long before XML appeared. IDL is the format used in COM calls
for example and RPC calls between processes on an OS or
across a network. It is an OpenGroup standard I believe.

ASN.1 is a binary form and used in eCommerce and telecomms
networks for many years. It is standardised by the ITU

Edifact is the data standard of EDI and is set by the UN.
It has been used for commercial trading between large corporates
for many years.

All of these standards developed when network bandwidth
was very expensive so they all major on efficiency. XML was
developed by non networks-oriented people for the ease of
writing software for the web. Bandwidth was not a primary
concern to them.

There are other formats too, because the problem of transporting
data portably between computers has been with us since the
dawn of networking. XML just happens to be the most popular
format today. But popularity doesn't necessarily mean its good. :-)

-- 
Alan Gauld
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/