Abstract: A system for a context-independent framework for management and execution of XML processing tasks is provided. The XML processing tasks are executed by a module, herein referred to as the XSA Engine, according to a predefined set of instructions provided as electronic documents written in a special purpose, XML-based, programming language. The instruction sets contain references to, and control the execution of, instances of three classes of processing modules, which independently accomplish an XML processing subtask and jointly accomplish an XML processing task. The framework is decoupled from any specific execution context, meaning that standardized XML processing can be applied in almost any desired application. The special purpose programming language enhances productivity for development of XML processing tasks as compared to using general purpose programming languages, and diminishes the need for writing custom code to link different types of XML processing subtasks to accomplish an XML processing task.