Re: [xsl] Time for an exslt for 2.0?

Subject: Re: [xsl] Time for an exslt for 2.0?
From: David Carlisle <davidc@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2005 13:10:22 +0100
> When I looked at these, I promptly
> realised the benefit, and implemented my own attribute in gexslt with
> identical semantics.

since the semantics in that case were those spec'ed out by Michael, an
alternative strategy would have been to implement them in saxon's
namespace. 

> As Dmitre pointed out, for two processors this is
> just about OK, but if more and more implementations were to do the
> same thing, it would be frightfully messy to read, and a real pain to
> have to keep adding new attributes for each new processor.

This is true, although the situation isn't so bad as in XSLT1 (where
every implementation has an xx:node-set() function but writing a
stylesheet in a portable way meant coding an xsl:choose switch on each
invocation. xsl:function means that it's only the function author
(Dimitre in this case) who has the hassle (and he can make a
compile-time switch using use-when so there is no run time cost for the
user) The end user can use some portable function in a fixed namespace
(fxsl in this case or some stylesheett specififc namespace if the
stylesheet and function authors are in fact the same person).

>  It might be useful
> to have a set of standard collation names with known properties.

It certainly would, but as you comment this is anyway under discussion
and a set standardised under an exslt namespace might turn out to be
more of a problem than a help longer term if there ends up being a set
standardised somewhere else.

I'm sure that there will be a need for common extensions, and I'd urge
that they be kept within the exslt namespace/project if at all
possible. (It may be that a different subgroup of people may need to be
coopted to manage an xslt2 area or exslt, but that's presumably a
subject for an exslt list not here)

David

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