Python is a very popular language for processing XML because of its flexibility, and the work of many open-source developers in the XML-SIG and elsewhere. The most popular XML processing models, DOM and SAX are well-represented, and many other important technologies from XSLT and XPath through RDF.

But the real strength of Python for XML processing requires specialized models to emerge. The dynamicism of Python allows for next-generation data bindings that use declarative forms for mirroring XML vocabularies. The combination of Python and XML core strengths could provide even more power, registering XPatterns for dispatch during parsing and XPaths for triggering of processing. Python's strengths in introspection allow for simplified serialization to XML. Its variety of polymorphic hooks allow for pluggable datatype libraries, among other advantages. These strengths add up to especially rich forms of data-binding that do not depend on an object or relational view of XML data.

This paper presents an overview of the many XML processing tools and techniques available for Python, and focuses especially on tools that make the most of the Python's strengths in XML processing.