Re: [xsl] [XPath 3.0] Why should I bother specifying the "arity" of a function that I invoke?

[Dimitre Novatchev <dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 2:06 PM, Costello, Roger L. <costello@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> So why should I bother specifying the arity? Is there a case where I *must* specify the arity?

Yes -- in *all* cases when a function is passed as a parameter.

This requirement follows from the fact that XPath (even 2.0) allows
for function overloads -- that is, for two or more functions to have
the same name, but different signatures. If the arity isn't provided,
then the XPath evaluation cannot disambiguate between different
possible overloads.

Even in the case when there are no overloads for a given function
name, new overloads can be written at a later moment, therefore, the
arity generally is required for all literal function items.


-- 
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev
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