Re: [xsl] Re: compiled stylesheets was Re: Re: RE: creating a string of repeated charactors

Subject: Re: [xsl] Re: compiled stylesheets was Re: Re: RE: creating a string of repeated charactors
From: "cutlass" <cutlass@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 12:16:20 +0100
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dimitre Novatchev" <dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2001 11:50 AM
Subject: [xsl] Re: compiled stylesheets was Re: Re: RE: creating a string of
repeated charactors


> > The days of optimizing from build start to end are nearly over ( gasp
should
> > i be saying this.....) in a world where things are still slow with 1 gig
> > chip and 500 meg RAM, i am convinced that hardware advances ( and
network )
> > will far outstrip code optimisation, and us programmers shall get lazier
and
> > lazier.. due to sheer ability to be lazy ( or not enough time to be
super
> > efficient ), not to mention that overall lifetime of any particular
software
> > is quite short lived ( at least the crap i write ).
>
> I would never justify inability to think with progress in hardware.

hello Dimitre,

hehe, no justification, its reality, if one surveys the top 10 software
projects ( in budget and time ) in the world today, u will see

a) inefficient 'slow' code ripe for refactoring and optimisation
b) code not working as specified
c) insufficient timing estimate of build
d) poorly specified user requirements

and this has nothing to do with inability to think , but rather classic
project management problems.

the 1st order problems that effect most coding, has nothing to do with the
thinking ability of individual programmer ( the number of design patterns a
typical programmer uses throughout their career probably averages around
20-30 ), though in my case i raise my hand to writing professional code that
works properly though may require refactoring at some optimal point ( read
after delivery date ).

to poorly, indirectly, ( cant quite remember exact wording so please correct
me Mr. Kay ) quote Michael Kay at the XSLT UK conference re his use of java
( over lets say c++),' i would rather use a language that gives me the time
to redraft what i have written, in the time given '. which of course now
means i am spending all my time rewriting my c++ code with java.

so  i agree that a professional level should be maintained when writing
xslt, but we should address 1st order problems, which means incorporating a
simple and standard compiling mechanism; the very nature of xslt lends
itself to gaining signigicant benefits using standard compiling techniques,
though we shall see.

> Algorithms that require twice as much memory, or that copy (slightly
transformed)
> trees several times in memory are examples of this in XSLT.
>
> Producing (or at least striving to find) algorithms that require several
times less
> resources vs ignoring resourse limitations -- this will at any time make
practical
> the solution of a considerably larger class of problems.

completely agree.

cheers, jim fuller


 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list


Current Thread