RE: [xsl] Using keys in templates

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 09:27 AM 7/14/2004, you wrote:
> I yield to Michael Kay & Wendell Piez. :-)  Perhaps, though, I simply
> overstated.  I do believe that far too many XSLT newcomers are writing
> spaghetti XSLT and have very little clue why it works (or doesn't work).

It's true that empty templates are going to be very mysterious things until 
you understand the processing model.

On the other hand, figuring out how and why they work the way they do can 
be an excellent exercise to help gain that understanding.

Like so much, this cuts both ways. I'm definitely in favor of anything that 
can lower the incidence of people trying to use XSLT (or any technology) 
without understanding how it works. Choosing to be ignorant because 
knowledge is "too hard" rarely pays off in the end, and often it proves to 
be very expensive.

So ironically, this discussion is very useful (thanks John) if for no other 
reason that maybe a newbie or two will say "hm, the experts are arguing 
over whether it's a good idea to use empty templates: maybe I better 
understand that". Yep!

Cheers,
Wendell


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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
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