RE: [xsl] 'nother xslt2 engine

Subject: RE: [xsl] 'nother xslt2 engine
From: "Michael Kay" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 00:46:21 -0000
> Coming back to the real world of XSLT 2.0 compliant processors -- Dr. 
> Kay, one of the "missing" portions of one of the projects I 
> have worked 
> on over the last 8 months (AspectXML.org) is the ability to 
> use Schema 
> to validate the input, the mapping, and then the output of the XSLT 
> 1.0-based Aspect weaving engine. 

It certainly sounds as if there might be potential. However, I'm finding it
very hard to extract from your description the essence of what it is you are
trying to achieve. Sorry!.

I won't comment on your observations on Altova other than to say that I'm
pleased there is now another XSLT 2.0 engine on the market, and that
describing the restrictions in the help text is better than not describing
them at all.

Michael Kay


One of the things I see as great 
> potential with Saxon-SA (or any other XSLT 2.0 Schema-Aware compliant 
> processor that may become available in the future) is to introduce at 
> the Aspect Oriented Software Development level the ability to 
> validate 
> every line of code that may be introduced via cross cutting 
> concerns and 
> to ensure that choices can be made at run time what to do 
> when the code 
> does'nt validate (e.g. stop the process, clean up the code to 
> conform to 
> the standards set forth and continue, ignore it all together, etc...) 
> against a given schema, be it a static Schema that exists on the file 
> system or a dynamically woven schema that is then used to further 
> validate dynamically woven aspects. With IBM putting as much time and 
> money into the development of tools for AOSD as well as an every 
> increasing allocation of shelf space at Barnes & Noble and Borders & 
> there UK-based counterparts for AOSD related titles (my good 
> friend Russ 
> Miles - who was the original creator of the idea for 
> AspectXML of which 
> we then joined forces to build - just finished the AspectJ 
> Cookbook - An 
> Oreilly Cookbook to me says a lot about where OReilly feels a 
> particular 
> technology is already or is heading towards...) I have this 
> sense that 
> utilizing the advanced features available in Saxon-SA coupled with 
> Schema and AspectXML could truly revolutionize the way software is 
> built, validated for conformance to particular standards, 
> archived and 
> indexed for use at a later date within other projects.. and the list 
> goes on and on.
> 
> My question to you from the above statement then is what is 
> your take on 
> using a processor like Saxon-SA to utilize a process involving a 
> combination of XML, XSLT, and Schema files to act as a 
> pre-processor to 
> the compilation of a software project, be it an AOSD-based project or 
> even a standard OOP-based project?
> 
> To me I see MASSIVE gains that can come from this type of 
> system - From 
> a 1 man development team to a 250 man corporate development project 
> (even more so at this level when you consider the amount of 
> code that is 
> usually just left sitting on someones harddrive completely 
> unkown and/or 
> unnoticed and as such reducing a companies assetts to a fraction of 
> there potential if this code were to be located, accessed, analyzed, 
> processed, validated, serialized as XML, and returned as an 
> assett that 
> is now completely indexed and available for use). I realize 
> that a lot 
> of this can be seen as Pipe Dream material and some may argue 
> that these 
> types of tools already exist in other formats. While I won't argue 
> against this I will suggest that there is plenty of room for 
> improvement... Could a Schema-Aware processor like Saxon-SA be a key 
> factor in revolutionizing the way we build software - 
> Structured XML and 
> Semi-structured text alike?
> 
> Thanks for any and all insite you are willing to give on this matter!
> 
> Best regards and thanks again for giving us Saxon!
> 
> <M:D/>
> 
> >Michael Kay

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