Hello,
When we move to the new API, the minimum allowed Python version will be
2.4, but the API will also work with 2.5. As part of the new XML reader
and writer, Rasmus is going to use a standard parser called ElementTree,
see:
http://effbot.org/zone/element-index.htm
There is a Python implementation of this but it is bloody slow (Rasmus
estimates it's an order of magnitude slower than the current
implementation). However the C implementation is good (Rasmus estimates
it's about twice as fast as the current implementation). We are intending
to require this C version to be used with the new API.
As well as being faster, this XML parser is of course also not
CCPN-specific (the current API parser is) and even better it seems to be
becoming a standard.
Indeed, the good news for Python 2.5 users is that ElementTree is
automatically included in that release of Python, so nothing additional
will need to be done.
But for Python 2.4 users, the installation of Analysis and the
FormatConverter will require compilation of this extra piece of C code (we
don't have great experience with this yet so don't know all the issues
that might arise).
So this is just a warning. If you can move up to Python 2.5 in the next
couple of months your installation procedure for the new API will be
slightly easier.
(And in API news, Rasmus has finished the in-memory aspects of the new API
although it still requires a lot of testing. He has just started the XML
I/O code, which is where this new parser comes in.)
Wayne
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