1. A method comprising performing a machine-executed operation involving instructions for populating an XML data index in parallel, wherein the machine-executed operation is at least one of: A) sending the instructions over transmission media; B) receiving the instructions over transmission media; C) storing the instructions onto a machine-readable storage medium; and D) executing the instructions; wherein the instructions are instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: a first pull parser process receiving a first XML document for processing; said first pull parser process calling a first function process, from a plurality of function processes, with first information as input to said first function process, wherein said first information corresponds to a first node of said first XML document; said first function process generating values for a first index entry based on said first information; and a first insertion process, from a plurality of insertion processes, inserting said values for said first index entry into said XML data index.