Subject: [xsl] saxon:expression and functional argument issue ... From: Gunther Schadow <gunther@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 14:22:22 -0500 |
I have to say I really like saxon a lot and I trust it so much because I know Mike Kay is an active maintainer of the XSLT standard. It's just great work.
But -- still recovering from our intense dynamic scoping battle few weeks ago -- I can't resist noting certain things that pertain to the discussion. Saxon:assign being the most outstanding one of course, but here is another little more subtle one:
The supplied string must contain an XPath expression. The result of the function is a stored expression, which may be supplied as an argument to other extension functions such as saxon:eval(), saxon:sum() and saxon:distinct(). The result of the expression will usually depend on the current node. The expression may contain references to variables that are in scope at the point where saxon:expression() is called: these variables will be replaced in the stored expression with the values they take at the time saxon:expression() is called, not the values of the variables at the time the stored expression is evaluated. Similarly, if the expression contains namespace prefixes, these are interpreted in terms of the namespace declarations in scope at the point where the saxon:expression() function is called, not those in scope where the stored expression is evaluated.
So really what expression does is to create a functional argument and return it. From that point on you can pass it into other functions to use it. But, here is the thing: any free variables in the functional argument are bound to the current value assignments at the time the funarg is executed. That means, it's as if all of those free variables have become implicit parameters to the lambda object produced by the expression function.
I do not want to convey any blame on Mike Kay at all, but to the other side: in a world where serious XSLT processors offer assignment side-effects, and functional arguments of a kind the world hasn't seen since 1978 or longer, we should not hestiate to put into place implicit parameters and funarg closures rigtht into XSLT and strongly discourage XSLT implementors to add assignment extensions to their processors.
regards -Gunther
-- Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org
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