RE: MS chat tidbits

[Kay Michael <Michael.Kay@xxxxxxx>]

> >1. MS is considering "streamed XSLT support" with SAX. This 
> would allow
> >their XSLT processor to process XML documents on a streaming 
> basis rather
> >than requiring the entire document to be resident in memory. 
> 
> The program manager for the MSXML group says that they are 
> "just considering it," and there's a lot to consider. For example, how
would 
> they support aspects of XSLT that require the whole document to be in 
> memory, such as the "following" axis? Or would they just not support it? 

Early versions of Saxon supported a streamed processing model, and I used to
think it could be done simply by supporting a subset of XSLT/XPath. I now
think it needs a different language with a different processing model,
though it can have many similarities to XSLT 1.0. In particular, if you are
working serially you need the ability to remember what you've already seen
so you can use it later, and this needs a much richer capability for
creating data in working storage (data types, updateable variables) than
XSLT 1.0 offers.

Mike Kay


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