[XML-SIG] Confused and grasping

[Andrew M. Kuchling]

Jeff Blaine writes:
>Being a Python-head, I downloaded and poked at the XML-SIG's xml-0.5.1.tgz
>today, and it all still seems like a programmer's toolkit.  Am I
>wrong?
>
>It seems that xml-0.5.1.tgz is meant for XML gurus who want to develop
>Python applications with XML functionality built in.

Correct, and it's going to stay that way because the range of possible
applications for XML is large.  I think it was Tim Bray who compared
XML to ASCII; it's just a data format.  No one advertises "Version 2.0
now supports ASCII!", because ASCII isn't exciting, and XML, in
itself, isn't that exciting either.  Particular applications of XML
may be exciting to you, but other applications may not be.  For
example, I'm not really interested in producing formatted printed
output from XML, but I am interested in storing bits of data in XML,
perhaps inventing a DTD along the way.

So, the base XML package is always going to be very nuts-and-bolts,
aimed at letting people build basic XML parsing functions into their
code.  The hope is that people will build MathML displayers, or
DocBook formatters, or ICML servers, using the basic package.  What
exactly are you in search of?

-- 
A.M. Kuchling			http://starship.python.net/crew/amk/
When a world ends, there's always something left over. A story, perhaps, or a
vision, or a hope. This inn is a refuge, after the lights go out. For a while.
    -- The innkeeper, in SANDMAN #56: "World's End"