Chapter 2. Converting XML to CSV

Bart Simpson meets Wally and the Beaver

This chapter presents a utility for converting an XML document to a single CSV file. It describes foundation programming techniques for reading and parsing XML files using the DOM.

Bart Simpson, that icon of the 1990s with attitude, to me represents a lot of what we've associated with XML as a disruptive technology. Wally and the Beaver, despite being in strict chronological terms contemporaries more of ancient IBM mainframes and punch cards than of VisiCalc and dBase, still serve well as icons of simpler times and technologies.