Subject: Re: [xsl] Is there an XSLT/XPath processor good enough to use in life-critical applications? From: "Michael Kay mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2019 17:06:41 -0000 |
Hardware fails randomly: it's meaningful to talk about the probability of failure. Sofware fails predictably. With very rare exceptions, a program either works correctly every time, or it never works at all. Probability of failure is therefore a meaningless concept. (The main exceptions are (a) multithreading effects, and (b) when the program is supplied with abnormal input.) Of course, all software has bugs, and that includes XSLT/XPath processors. Bugs in a compiler don't usually have a serious effect on safety-critical systems because nearly all compiler bugs are found while developing and testing the user application; they don't suddenly spring into life in the middle of the night when the patient is on the operating theatre. (I remember a three-day trial of a mainframe operating system prior to release. The success criterion was that it achieved a mean time between failures above 24 hours. In the event there were 3 failures over 72 hours. They were all caused by the operator loading a particular deck of cards upside down. After three crashes he realised his mistake, and didn't do it again. What was the probability of that happening?) Michael Kay Saxonica > On 15 Nov 2019, at 12:09, Costello, Roger L. costello@xxxxxxxxx <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Hi Folks, > > Are you using XSLT/XPath in a life-critical application such as controlling a nuclear power plant or controlling an aircraft flight system? > > Can an XSLT/XPath processor be relied on to always return the correct results when given a valid XSLT/XPath program and a well-formed XML document? Is it possible to quantify or bound the correctness of an XSLT/XPath processor? Is there an XSLT/XPath processor that limits the probability of getting an incorrect result to 10**(-9)? > > /Roger
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