[XML-SIG] pyexpat & xmlproc

[uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com]

> What's the deal with the Fourthought bits and pieces?
> 
> Are they any better that the rest of the Python XML bits?

Thay are largely complementary to the Python XML package.  The only overlap 
right now is the DOM implementation.  I'm a bit biased, as one of the 4DOM 
developers, but I'd say that PyDOM has suffered a bit from lack of development 
lately.  It used to have several pythonic features that set it apart from 
4DOM, but I think 4DOM has caught up, with py-list derived NodeList, py-dict 
derived NamedNodeMap, smarter node __repr__, etc.  It is also quite a bit 
faster, apparently because of the proxying system for automatic circ ref 
prevention in PyDOM.  We also experimented with such an approach and didn't 
like the results, so we just left it to explicit deep node removal.

The CORBA legacy was also long a knock on 4DOM for non-CORBA users, but we've 
had an "orbless" config for a while now.  There are still "__skel" files and 
other CORBA-isms, but they're all dummies.  We soon plan to make a major 
overhaul to exorcize CORBA from the core even in appearance.  We shall still 
support CORBA, but through an optional wrapper about the core classes, as it 
probably should have been at the start.

> Are they freely redistributable?

Yes.  All the 4Suite tools use a similar license as Python itself.

> Are there any plans to integrate them into the standard
> Python XML distribution?

Now that's one for long discussion...

-- 
Uche Ogbuji
FourThought LLC, IT Consultants
uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com	(970)481-0805
Software engineering, project management, Intranets and Extranets
http://FourThought.com		http://OpenTechnology.org