Python & XML

The XML Specifications

In the trade press, we often see references about how XML “now supports” some particular industry-specific application. The article that follows is often confused, offering some small morsel of information about an industry consortium that has released a new specification for an XML-based language to support interoperability of data within the consortium’s industry. As technical people, we usually note that it doesn’t apply to the industries we’re involved in, or else it does, but the specification is too early a draft to be useful. In fact, our managers will probably agree with us most of the time, or they’ll be privy to some relevant information that causes them to disagree. If we step up the corporate ladder a couple more rungs, however, we often find an increase in the level of confusion over XML. Sometimes, this is accompanied by either a call to “adopt XML” (too often with a list of particular specifications that are not intended to be used together), or a reaction that XML is too immature to use at all.

So we need to think about just what we can work with that will meet the following criteria:

• It must make technical sense for our application.

• It should be sufficiently well-defined that implementation is possible.

• It must be able to be explained and justified to (at least) our direct managers.

• It won’t freak out the upper management.

Ok, we’re technical people, so we may have to ignore that last item; it certainly won’t be covered in this book. In fact, most ...