RE: [xsl] Wishes for XSL revisions ...

Subject: RE: [xsl] Wishes for XSL revisions ...
From: Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 16:31:17 -0500
Jonathan and all,

At 03:15 PM 12/27/01, you wrote:
I agree  "Go all the way" for a programming language. XSL even does not
have a "break" statement. For a simple thing, using XSL has to write
piles of piles of code.

Whatever happened to the idea of using the right tool for the job? Any number of other languages have better and better support for XML built in.


If XSL turns into an all-purpose combination utility knife-wrench-screwdriver-with-magnifying-glass-bottle-opener, it'll be impossible to learn as well as implement.

If you have to write piles and piles of code to do a simple thing in XSLT, then maybe you're trying to use the wrong tool. Some things that are hard in other languages, are exceedingly simple in XSLT and don't require piles and piles of code. It is on these cases that XSLT's success is built -- not on the edge cases which are possible but difficult (and on which this list naturally spends a preponderance of time and energy -- partly just trying to help, partly out of interest and curiosity in training our beloved and faithful dog to dance).

If we say "Wow, XSLT is powerful, let's get it so it can draw maps", we may end up killing exactly what made it so good to begin with. You can always generate your SVG with the help of Java, Python or C if you need heavy number-crunching and layout algorithms.

What *I* think would be nice would be the capability to call, from within your stylesheet, home-grown extension elements and functions (maybe in your own namespace?) to do things that XSLT doesn't do. But wait! that's in XSLT 1.0!

Cheers,
Wendell


====================================================================== Wendell Piez mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mulberry Technologies, Inc. http://www.mulberrytech.com 17 West Jefferson Street Direct Phone: 301/315-9635 Suite 207 Phone: 301/315-9631 Rockville, MD 20850 Fax: 301/315-8285 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in SGML and XML ======================================================================


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