The Python core libraries include six different methods for parsing and creating XML, none of which feel particularly Pythonic (here I am, three weeks into developing with Python and already I’m calling out core libraries as not being Python-y enough). I missed the low overhead methods I had used in other languages. Particularly for parsing XML, PHP’s simplexml is hard to beat, and for building, it’s hands-down Ruby’s XML Builder. Off I went, hunting for Python ports.