C/C++ parsers, such as libxml2 or Xerces C++ have entered the scene, and so have their Perl extensions. Perl XML folks have developed Perl SAX, a Perlish counterpart of Java SAX interface. Currently, CPAN contains several parsing modules.
This article compares the performance of five free PerlSAX 2 parsers available from CPAN. Older XML::Parser is also included to serve as a baseline.