Re: [xsl] XSLT 2.0 courses?

Subject: Re: [xsl] XSLT 2.0 courses?
From: "Liam R. E. Quin liam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2020 17:55:08 -0000
On Fri, 2020-09-18 at 15:04 +0000, Graydon graydon@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Having seen XSLT course announcements here, I hope this is not an
> inappropriate question.

I think it very appropriate.

> On the theory that sending someone to learn XSLT 3.0 before they've
> got the XSLT 2.0 concepts is neither kind nor useful, are there
> worthwhile, online, "You've been using XSLT 1.0 since forever, here's
> XSLT 2.0" courses still available?

A few have been posted. The "XSLT two to three" course i've run in
person assumes basic XSLT, but i don't yet have that online. When i do,
probably next month, i plan to add some help for XSLT 1 users, since
people can't stop and ask questionsB9.

Probably the biggest differences to learn in the move from XSLT 1 to
either 2 or 3 are...
* value-of should have been <xsl:text select=..../> really
* sequences and types
* XSLT functions
* massively bigger function library
* a few idioms, such as (e1, e2)[1] and if..then...else in XPath
* a few differences, such as string(seq) no longer using only the first
item in the sequence

Although i don't think it necessary to become proficient in XSLT 2
before learning XSLT 3, a course focusing on what's new in 3 won't talk
about grouping, tunnel parameters, the uses of types for variables, and
so on. But the more of that the teacher adds, the longer the course.

Liam

B9 Note: ibm finding it harder than i expected to move from custom
courses or courses very tailored to the attendees, to television mode.
People expect to pay much less for prerecorded courses, quite
reasonably, but i think attendees get less out of them. A chemistry
teacher i had used to say, bTo read is to forget; to see is to
remember; to do is to learnb which is why we do experiments. Seeing a
room of people run 9,000+ transformations in a few seconds using
fn:transform(). or understanding accumulators, reminded me of this.

A mixture of pre-recorded sessions and QA sessions might be a
compromise, or possibly hiring someone to do a one-day custom
interactive session after people have done a course. What do you think?
Or are my concerns without merit and TV-style is fine?

-- 
Liam Quin,B https://www.delightfulcomputing.com/
Available for XML/Document/Information Architecture/XSLT/
XSL/XQuery/Web/Text Processing/A11Y training, work & consulting.
Barefoot Web-slave, antique illustrations: B http://www.fromoldbooks.org

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