RE: Why not reinvent the wheel?

[Evan Lenz <elenz@xyzfind.com>]

Vasileios Papadimos wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 26, 2001 at 12:10:43AM -0500, Charles Reitzel wrote:
>
> One of the reasons that relational databases have been so
> successful, is that
> they provided a better, succinct way to *express* queries. It's
> not that you
> can't express a relational query in a hierarchical or networked model;
> the relational, declarative query is simply easier to write, easier to
> understand, and easier to optimize.
>
> I believe the same is true for XQuery; having a simple, succinct way to
> form queries in a declarative way, and letting the optimizer decide on
> the best implementation is the way to go.

What you claim to identify as a distinct property of XQuery is common to
XSLT. Both XQuery and XSLT are declarative, not procedural. Neither enforce
any particular implementation strategy. As far as XQuery being more
"succinct" than XSLT, that's due to XSLT's XML syntax, not due to its
declarativity.

Evan Lenz
XYZFind Corp.

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone, not necessarily
those of XYZFind.