Phillip chats about the problems for which Java programmers naturally turn to XML, and Python programmers to .... Python.

I particularly like Phillip on using XML:

XML is not the answer. It is not even the question. To paraphrase Jamie Zawinski on regular expressions, "Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use XML.' Now they have two problems."

This is a different situation than in Java, because compared to Java code, XML is agile and flexible. Compared to Python code, XML is a boat anchor, a ball and chain. In Python, XML is something you use for interoperability, not your core functionality, because you simply don't need it for that.