[XML-SIG] Future plans

[Dieter Maurer]

uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com writes:
 > Paul Prescod:
 > 
 > > ... It might be
 > > nice to have a Python "backup" as with Pickle/CPickle, xmllib/sgmlop and
 > > so forth.
 > 
 > Multiple versions are always nice if the maintainers don't mind duplicating 
 > the work: choice is good as any of the users of the 8 or 9 XML libraries for 
 > Java or even XSLT processors for Java will attest.
Multiple versions are only a gain, when each version is, at least in
some sense, better than the other versions. I expect, that
the variety of Java XML parsers and XSLT processors will thin out 
because the developpers/maintainers do not see much sense to 
support software that does not give them a strategic advantage.


 > However, I hardly think that sheer portability will be any more of an obstacle 
 > for 4XPath as it is for any other C-based technology.  Python itself uses 
 > C/Bison and is portable to multiple platforms, including "the MAC and other 
 > funky stuff".  I don't see why 4XSLT should be any different.  It uses no 
 > Posix commands, just the basic C library.
 > 
 > For platforms where Bison is hard to come by, the obvious solution is to 
 > generate the C parser source in Unix or Windows and compile them in the other 
 > platform.
A pure Python solution has the advantage that people without
C development system (quite an investment, in money and know-how)
can use it.
Any C based extension has a disadvantage, unless it is part
of a distribution supported for many platforms (such as the
Python core itself). When something changes, a Python module
is changed once and runs on any platform. For a C based extension,
recompilation and test is necessary on all platforms.

- Dieter