There have been many discussions here about the "best practices for XML processing" - just look around the previous posts.
You will notice a HUGE variety of XML processing problems, all the way from small documents used for configuration to processing huge XML files. The "best practice" depends on the problem, so state your typical problem.
A good place to start is
the W3C standards for XML. Bill
[ June 21, 2005: Message edited by: William Brogden ]