[DOC-SIG] [STRING-SIG] What does this mean for Python?

[Sean Mc Grath]

>Paul Prescod writes:
>>How to Make Perl The Language of Choice for XML
[Press release snipped]
>
[Andrew Kuchling]
>	Thanks for finding this, Paul. Now, how should we respond?

<Preface>
I was hoping to un-bury myself enough to get started on some of the
stuff below but so far no joy! With the help of experienced Python
extension module developers we can make a lot of progress in a short
time on this one and we *need* to.

I know I speak for Paul Prescod and other SGML/XML people who
are Python fans in saying that any XML related help needed by
Python people working on this stuff will be provided by us lot
double quick!

Guys, this XML thing is really moving. Python has move power
in its little finger for XML processing than pretty much
any language I can think of.

There is an opportunity here to grab the XML wave and show
Python off to the world as the killer language it is.

The is also an opportunity here to be lost. Time is of the
essence!
</Preface>

1. We need to take James Clark's C implementation of a non-validating
XML parser and wrap it as Python extension module. Until such time
as Python does Unicode it will only be able to handle 8 bit character
sets and good old UTF-8.

James has specifically designed it to be integrated into other
applications. I do not think this would take very long and was
hoping to have a shot at it myself:-( Volunteer C extension
developers, please take one step forward.

2. We need to provide a SAX based interface to the parser (event based)
(SAX is an emerging standard API for XML parsers)

3. We need to provide a DOM interface (tree based)
DOM = Document Object Model - a W3C initiative to develop a
language independent read/write interface to HTML/XML documents

4. We need to move on Unicode

5. We need to move on accessing Java XML parsers via JPython (go for it Paul!)

6. I need to get the finger out and make Lumberjack freely available

7. <Controversial>We need to implement the XSL stylesheet language
using Python as the scripting environment instead of JavaScript</Controversial>

I have a small amount of Python stuff in an upcoming book an XML.
I could have a helluva lot more if the XML non-validating extension
module existed, occupied space and exerted gravitational force.

Sean





_______________
DOC-SIG  - SIG for the Python Documentation Project

send messages to: doc-sig@python.org
administrivia to: doc-sig-request@python.org
_______________