A five pointer on Hpricot Vs REXML

I’ve been learning to parse XML in Ruby for a while now using Hpricot and REXML. And here’s essentially what you should know if you are going through the same path

1. Hpricot(as of this writing) is still *very* incomplete! It’s doesn’t support everything that you would want to do in Xpath. I had to jumps through hoops to get a few things done. REXML on the other hand works like a charm. Hpricot also behaves weirdly(and unpredictably) at places.
2. Hpricot has parts of its implementation in C and way faster than REXML.
3. I like the Hpricot syntax, which seemed more natural than what REXML uses
4. REXML is very adament about content errors and would refuse to parse a document having a single misplaced ‘&’. Hpricot never complained.
5. REXML is in the standard library

Ruby from a Newbie

A presentation I gave after learning the language for about a week.
Comments on accuracy and presentation and content are most welcome.

Ruby Talk Slides
Ruby Talk Source