Re: [xsl] Testing 2 XML documents for equality - a solution

[Mukul Gandhi <mukul_gandhi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dimitre,
  Below is the "scope" of my solution. My definition
of equality of XML documents consists of 2 parts:

Part 1) Node types, to which the stylesheet does
comparison
-------
"XPath 1.0" trees define 7 kinds of nodes. These are
listed below. I have marked yes or no against node
types, indicating whether my stylesheet has logic to
compare these nodes. If XML documents have nodes of
kind which are marked "no", then my stylesheet may
give wrong result(I have not done any testing for no
marked nodes)..

root nodes - yes
element nodes - yes
text nodes - yes
attribute nodes - yes
namespace nodes - no
processing instruction nodes - no
comment nodes - no

Part 2) My notion of equality of 2 XML documents
-------
Imagine that the XPath tree of 2 documents are *drawn
on paper*. The diagram is just similar to the XPath
tree diagram in Mike's book (XSLT 2nd Edition,
Programmer's Reference) page 57(section "The Tree
Model"). 

If XPath tree of 2 XML documents will "look same" on
paper (as in Mike's book's page 57), the documents
will be considered equal by my stylesheet. 

The scope of my stylesheet presently covers only these
2 points.

I don't claim any other capability from my stylesheet.

I have not attempted to equate the XML documents in
terms of mathematical terms (like relations as you
mentioned; the subject I don't understand well) or
canonical terms(as defined by the canonical XML spec).

So considering the above scope of my work, can my
stylesheet be evaluated for correctness? 

I have deep regard for people who participated on this
thread.. They surely have deep knowledge of the
subject.

Regards,
Mukul

--- Dimitre Novatchev <dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Mukul,
> 
> 
> On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 04:36:32 -0800 (PST), Mukul
> Gandhi
> <mukul_gandhi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Hi Dimitre,
> >  I am really not good at mathematics at this
> level. I
> > did studied about relations like "symmetric,
> reflexive
> > and transitive" time back. But I did so just to
> score
> > grades. I had no idea then their practical use..
> It is
> > indeed enlightening for me to know they have real
> > practical use (in XML & XSLT!). I cannot define my
> > problem in these terms.. As my knowledge is
> limited.
> 
> This confirms the conclusion that here we see
> attempts at offering a
> solution to a problem that is not well defined.
> 
> How can we then judge the solution? 
> 
> > 
> > I would be happy if you can define in these
> precise
> > terms the problem I am trying to solve(based on my
> > earlier posts to this thread).
> 
> Impossible.
> 
> >  I'll keep it as a
> > reference for future use. I defined the problem (I
> am
> > trying to solve) from an average programmer's
> point of
> > view.. And I think that it is quite understandable
> to
> > an average programmer ;)
> 
> A number of very wise people already explained why
> this is difficult
> to define -- they also found holes in your
> definition (and
> understanding) of the problem. These people
> obviously are not average
> programmers.
> 
> Cheers,
> Dimitre Novatchev.
> 
> 


		
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