[xsl] Re: [xquery-talk] Random number generation : requirements

Subject: [xsl] Re: [xquery-talk] Random number generation : requirements
From: "Michael Kay mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 6 May 2014 20:42:43 -0000
> Similar to Zorba, most functions are non-deterministic. Is there any
> particular reason why the official random functions need to be
> deterministic?
>

Yes, we don't have any machinery in the language semantics for declaring
something as nondeterministic (easy to solve) or defining the semantics of how
it should behave if thus annotated (much harder).

For example, if f() and g() are non-deterministic functions, how do we say in
the spec that in the expression (f(), g()), f should be executed before g?

Michael Kay
Saxonica

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