Here's how I understand your requirements:
  1. OS X
  2. No CPAN
  3. Parses XML
This makes Perl a very bad idea since you will have to write your own XML parser from scratch and, nothing personal, but that sounds seriously ugly.

You say that you would "like" to use perl but that it isn't a requirement. My advice is to use Java 1.4 as it has the javax.xmlpackage as a part of its core. Yes, it isn't yet available for the Mac, but you can still do the coding on an available 1.4 platform and use it on your Mac machines when that version of the JDK is ported.

Perl without CPAN is like fries without _________ (insert favorite condiment here).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
()-()                                                      ()-()
 \"/    DON'T   BLAME   ME,   I  VOTED   FOR    PACO!       \"/
  `                                                          ` 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In reply to Re: Using Perl for plugins... by ignatz
in thread Using Perl for plugins... by dockthepod

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":



  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.