Re: [xsl] second implementation of XSLT 2.0?

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 04:03 PM 11/22/2005, Bob DuCharme wrote:
> Before a W3C Candidate Recommendation advances to Proposed
> Recommendation status, "the Working Group should be able to demonstrate
> two interoperable implementations of each feature."[1] So far, we've got
> Saxon for 2.0, but what else?

I'm glad Bob has posted this since I'm interested in the very same question.

I've been getting more experience with the 2.0 versions (using Saxon) 
and finding to my considerable gratification that it goes very 
smoothly. There really isn't much you need to "unlearn" from 1.0 
(basically, the way a few functions work), which is an excellent 
thing: it means that 1.0 continues to be useful, as a stepping stone 
to the more powerful language if nothing else. 2.0 adds a lot, but 
without the cumbersome schema-dependencies we were afraid of (the 
committee got that right), and without taking anything away that I can see.

And 2.0 *is* more powerful. Features I've had reason to be glad about:

* Grouping: easier and more fun even for those of us who've 
internalized the 1.0 tricks
* Transparent processing of results (wow!)
* User-authored functions (and how!)
* More powerful XPath (for example, with key use=".//*/local-name()" 
you can return a set of elements that contain elements with a given 
name -- nifty)

... and there are other nice features too (tunnel parameters, anyone?)

All this makes Bob's question very relevant at this stage: as a fan 
of XSLT 1.0, I think its fate may be tied to 2.0, so I'd like 2.0 to 
succeed, and not just for its own sake.

But as Bob mentions, two interoperable implementations of each 
feature are needed for the spec to be eligible for Rec status.

It would be nice to know who is working on this, so we can cheer them on.

Cheers,
Wendell



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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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