RE: [xsl] A paranoic XPath 2.0 question

["Michael Kay" <michael.h.kay@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I have noticed that as editors there are listed
>
> 4 people from XML Query WG
> 3 people from XSL WG
>
> If there is some point reised which requires voting, what is the
> procedure?

The technical content is not decided by the editors. The editors (in theory)
do what they are told. In practice, the editors take a lot of the burden of
sorting out the detail, but their decision is never final. In practice, the
editors worked very closely together. For example most of the technical work
on implementing and testing the XPath grammar was done jointly by Scott Boag
and Jonathan Robie, who were on the phone daily to get it working.

The decision making for XPath is actually quite complex. The XSL and XQuery
working groups have a joint task force, which debates all the technical
issues, and makes recommendations, which the two separate working groups
each have to approve.
>
> Does it mean that votes are simpli counted.

W3C tends to work on a consensus process. You keep debating an issue until
everyone agrees, or until the dissenters decide they're not going to win the
argument and withdraw gracefully. The formal position is that both working
groups voted (separately) to publish these working drafts.
>
> I am browsing through the spec and have feeling that
> XPath went the way of XML Schema:
>
> databases are much more important than text processing

Clearly the database tradition which is strongly represented in the XML
Query working group has had a major influence on the things that are new in
XPath 2.0, compared with XPath 1.0. I think one could argue that this
redresses the bias that previously existed the other way. XSLT 1.0 would
have been a better specification, and we would have fewer requests for help
on this list, if there had been people on the group with experience of
database report writers.
>
>
> And BTW:
>
> WHERE ARE REGULAR EXPRESSIONS ??????????, which were promissed :
>
They are there in the Functions and Operators working draft, which is
separately published. For reference, here's a list of the specs:

- XSLT 2.0:
  http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt20/
- XPath 2.0
  http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20/
- XQuery 1.0
  http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery/
- data model for XQuery and XPath
  http://www.w3.org/TR/query-datamodel/
- functions and operators for XQuery and XPath
  http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery-operators/

Mike Kay


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