Native XML scripting
ECMA: ECMA International (ECMA) is completing extensions to the widely used ECMAScript standard, currently being updated to its 4th Edition. The enhancements known as E4X (ECMAScript for XML) standardize the syntax and semantics of a general-purpose, cross-platform, vendor-neutral set of programming language extensions adding native XML support in ECMAScript.
John Schneider documented some of the earlier work that influenced this spec. I haven't kept close tabs on how it has evolved since then, but I'm confident that Tim Bray would approve.