[Python-Dev] folding cElementTree behind ElementTree in 3.3 (original) (raw)

Stefan Behnel stefan_ml at behnel.de
Fri Feb 10 11:44:11 CET 2012

"Martin v. Löwis", 10.02.2012 10:37:

Given that it was two months ago that I started the "Fixing the XML batteries" thread (and years since I brought up the topic for the first time), it seems to be hard enough already to get anyone on python-dev actually do something for Python's XML support, instead of just actively discouraging those who invest time and work into it. It depends on the nature of the changes you want to see done. Just bashing some piece of code is not something that I personally consider a worthwhile thing, so I'll likely continue to discourage changes in a direction that demeans some XML library in favor of some other.

This is getting off-topic for this thread, but anyway. What I meant with my paragraph above was that none of the topics I brought up has received any action on the side of those with commit rights yet, regardless of how obvious they were and how much or little dispute there was about them.

IMHO, all of this boils down to whether or not we should make it easier for users to efficiently use the stdlib. Backing ElementTree by the accelerator module helps here, and fixing the docs to point (new) users to ElementTree instead of MiniDOM helps as well.

I can happily accept that you have a different opinion on the latter topic than I do. What I cannot accept is that, as we speak, this leads to users getting drawn into using the wrong tool for their job, into wasting their time (both for development and runtime) and potentially into getting drawn away from the (IMHO) perfect language for XML processing.

I don't think bashing is the right word here. Everyone who, knowing the alternatives, decides to use MiniDOM is welcome to do so. I'm just stating, both from my personal experience and from discussions on c.l.py, that the current documentation makes it easier for new users to take the wrong decision for them than to make this decision in an informed way. MiniDOM may be the right thing further down along the way in some cases. It's almost never the right thing to start with, simply because if you do, it inherently takes way too much time until you reach the point where the evidence becomes obvious that it actually was the wrong decision. The documentation should allow innocent users to see this risk clearly before they start wasting their time.

So, getting back to the topic again, is there any reason why you would oppose backing the ElementTree module in the stdlib by cElementTree's accelerator module? Or can we just consider this part of the discussion settled and start getting work done?

Stefan

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