Re: [xsl] 'nother xslt2 engine

["M. David Peterson" <m.david@xxxxxxxxxx>]

This is SWEET!!!  Nice catch David :)

I've been looking around the site and the docs and havent found any 
immediatte reference as to whether this is a Basix or Schema-Aware 
implementation.  I am assuming that a company whos profits are as deeply 
embedded into XML and transformation technologies as Altova would have 
quite a few members of there staff subscribed to this list...  Anyone of 
you guys want to enlighten the rest of us on this...

This also brings up a good point to consider:

Of the XSLT 2.0 processors that are available [alpha, beta, or released] 
which are the most appropriate to use in each particular user 
situation.  Here would be my summary from what I know so far to be 
projects that I have used that I know for a fact have at least SOME of 
the XSLT 2.0 features working.

Any platform, client or server, except for .NET - Hands down this is 
Saxon-B and Saxon-SA.

NOTE: Dr.Kay, could you run us through a scenario in which using 
Saxon-SA over Saxon-B has been or can be beneficial.  I know there are a 
million and a half reasons how and why but as more and more processors 
that support XSLT 2.0 become available it seems to me that a clearer 
understanding as to why a XSLT 2.0 Schema Aware processor has advantage 
over a XSLT 2.0 Basic processor will be extremely valuable in evaluating 
whether a Basic processor is sufficient or if a Schema Aware processor 
is something that we need to make an investment into?

Further conclusions of platform usage:

Any *Server Side* .NET-based project: Theres only one at the moment and 
that would be Saxon.NET

Windows Client - Saxon-B and Saxon-SA would still have to be the defacto 
standard here.  I havent run anything more than some simple tests with 
Altova's processor but the fact that it is a native Windows application 
does give it a fighting chance at possibly having some performance 
advantages over Saxon, but thats only a possibility...  For now Saxon-B 
and Saxon-SA are the only two processors proven to run efficiently and 
effectively on a Windows client running either a Sun or IBM 1.4+ based VM.

Any System with support for Eiffell - Colin Paul Adams has a clean build 
of an XSLT 2.0 processor that seems to be a fairly efficient processor.  
In fact I have it on my list to work on compiling this using the 
Eiffell.NET compiler and return the results of various test back to 
Colin for performance enhancements etc... Colin, I havent forgout about 
this and will get the results back to you ASAP!

Colin, any comments in regards to the specific platforms in which you 
feel are best suited to run your Eiffel based XSLT 2.0 processor.  Is 
this a Basic or Schema Aware implementation?  If Basic are you planning 
a Schema Aware version?

Notice that I didnt include Saxon.NET (being the primary developer for 
the project you think I would -- but I have to be real when it comes to 
what is right for now as opposed to what is appropriate for the future) 
on the Windows Client section.  While technically you can download and 
install the 23+meg .NET framework runtime for any Windows OS that is at 
least Windows 98 Second Edition it will still be a bit of time before 
you can rely on the framework being available on a majority of Windows 
boxes... In fact, the framework didnt even ship with Windows XP and, as 
far as I know, missed being a part of the Service Pack 2 deployment 
(although I could be very wrong on this... I havent verified this as 
fact and should before making such claims... I'll find out for sure.)  
With this in mind my personal reccomendation is to use Saxon.NET only 
for server side ASP.NET-based applications or for applications whos user 
base you can in some way or another control whether or not the framework 
is installed.

Oracle 10g based applications - The Oracle 10g XDK is still under 
development but I am guessing that if you are an avid Oracle developer 
you are fully aware of the 10g XDK and what the current limitations 
are.  I have absolutely no experience with this processor and so 
therefore will not even attempt to qualify when and when not to use it.  
Somebody else want to chime in on this one?

Anything else I have missed that anybody would like to add?

Cheers!

<M:D/>


David Carlisle wrote:

> not tried it yet but...
>
> http://www.altova.com/resources_xsltengine.html
>
> windows only, free download (but not open source) and claims to
> implement November 2003 draft of xslt2
>
> David
>
>
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