Hi Rob,

On Tue, 23 Jul 2013 18:15:07 +0100
Rob Dixon <rob.di...@gmx.com> wrote:

> On 23/07/2013 14:39, Shlomi Fish wrote:
> > Hi Rob,
> >
> > I recommend against using XML::XPath because it's been undermaintained, is
> > slower than XML::LibXML's XPath support, may be more incomplete and I
> > believe it has poorer support for XML namespaces.
> >
> > Instead one should use
> > https://metacpan.org/module/XML::LibXML::XPathContext , which is part of
> > XML-LibXML, which for completeness' sake I'd like to note that I am its
> > primary maintainer, so I may be biased. But recommending to use XPath for
> > that ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XPath ) is a good idea.
> 
> Hello Shlomi
> 
> Thank you for declaring your interest in the subject of your evangelism.

I apologise if you felt that I was needlessly promoting my modules here. That
was not my intention. I recommended against using XML::XPath because it is
commonly known as inferior, and has not had a release since 2003 and was
suggesting XML::LibXML instead, because it is known to be a better
alternative for most of XML::XPath's use-cases (including the one in the
original thread). I'd like people to avoid recommending XML::XPath in this day
and age.

> As you say, XML::LibXML is *your* module (or at least, you are
> maintaining it) just as perl-begin.org is *your* website, and common
> wisdom says that in such circumstances you should refrain from promoting
> either of them altogether. 

Why do you feel that I've been "promoting" XML::LibXML in this thread? Why does
the fact that I'm affiliated with it, prevent me from recommending it over
a different alternative, which I believe (and can prove) that is inferior? Just
for the record, XML::LibXML is
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software (under the same
terms as Perl itself) and I encourage other people to use it, build upon it,
and contribute to it without the need to compensate me in any way. 

> If you insist on doing so anyway then I wish
> you would make your declarations a *lot* more prominent, i.e. the
> *first* thing you say in your post, rather than a subsidiary clause in a
> secondary paragraph.

Why do you feel I should do so? What was wrong with the disclaimer as it stood?

> 
> I try to avoid recommending XS-based modules when I sense that the OP
> may have trouble digging himself out of a hole when a CPAN module has
> failed to install. 

Well, XML::XPath depends on XML::Parser which is an XS module (and not a core
one):

* https://metacpan.org/source/MSERGEANT/XML-XPath-1.13/Makefile.PL

> XML::XPath works fine here. It is plenty fast enough,
> and the data doesn't use namespaces. You have no reason to disparage it.
> 

The original poster may need to use namespaces, and he may run into a bug that
has crept in XML::XPath since its last release in 2003, and the data may be
larger than you are trying it on. As a result, I can no longer recommend it in
the general case.

Regards,

        Shlomi Fish

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish       http://www.shlomifish.org/
Optimising Code for Speed - http://shlom.in/optimise

He who reinvents the wheel, may actually invent a much better wheel.

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