MSXML abominations happening for a reason (was Re: MSXML...released)

[Mike Brown <mike@xxxxxxxx>]

> > The xsl:apply-templates element may itself contain xsl:template elements
> 
> This is really terrible. Right-thinking people should rise up against
> this gross, unnecessary, extension. Can anyone suggest a problem which 
> can be solved using this technique, and no other in standard XSLT?

Yes, the problem is that pure XML/XSLT is too hard for your average "HTML
programmer" to master in short order, in part because its functionality is
less than obvious (side effect free operations on and specified by
abstract trees derived from documents, rather than markup as direct
controls for browser behavior).

"Solutions" like this abomination arise not because Microsoft is sadistic
but because they believe, and probably have market research to back this
up, that there are a lot of people out there who will use this
functionality and who will find it easier to learn and put into practice
than pure XSLT. Their market is consumers and people who write software
for consumers to use. It is all you can do to get these programmers to
deal with the basic aspects of well-formedness, let alone learning the ins
and outs of namespaces and the sometimes obscure ways of accomplishing
things in pure XSLT.

I am not at all surprised by this news. The W3C did not learn much from
the mistake that was HTML 3.2. They made a spec that was very proper but
that didn't take into account what people really wanted. Those of us who
had the time to learn XML and XSLT and follow the specs do not,
unfortunately, constitute the entire world. There are legions of "web
developers" out there who can make a web browser make coffee, but for whom
the learning curve demanded by XSLT is just too great. These people, and
the software companies who cater to them, *will* find an easier way,
regardless of what the rest of us do.

   - Mike (in pessimistic mode today)
________________________________________________________________________
 Mike Brown / Hyperreal   |  Hyperreal http://www.hyperreal.org/music/
 PO Box 61334             |     XML & XSL http://www.skew.org/xml/
 Denver CO 80206-8334 USA |       http://www.hyperreal.org/~mike/


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