If XML is difficult for you to parse, maybe your XML isn't structured properly. I don't know your application or where your XML comes from, so that makes it difficult to judge. XML is just a way to structure data. It can be as flexible or strict as you need it to be (within your app) and shouldn't be more flexible than it needs to be. Parsing XML using DOM methods will be much more difficult than just using something like XML::Simple or the like, but that's the way many languages do it. There are a lot of modules on CPAN that try to make it easy for you. I feel that they do a very good job of that.

Again, if your parsing seems difficult, maybe the XML that you're parsing is just a bit too flexible for your needs. And I've yet to hear what exactly is difficult about it in Perl. I hear you repeating the same thing about it being difficult, but haven't heard any examples of why you believe it to be difficult.

On a side note, I'd recommend modifying your title to something a little less irritated, otherwise you'll get even more of these defensive replies.