Re: [xml-dev] The use of XML syntax in XML Query

[Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo@metalab.unc.edu>]

At 1:38 PM +0000 1/3/02, Henry S. Thompson wrote:

>I think there's a confusion here.  XPath and XQuery are expression
>languages.  There's no such thing as an 'XQuery document' as such, as
>far as I understand.  You can embed XPath and/or XQuery expressions in
>XML documents any way you like.  So the following is perfectly OK:
>
><myQR>
>&lt;bib>
>             {
>              for $b in document("http://www.bn.com";)/bib/book
>              where $b/publisher = "Addison-Wesley" and $b/@year > 1991
>              return
>                &lt;livre ann&#xe9;e={ $b/@year }>
>                 &lt;cr&#xe9;ateur> { $b/author } &lt;/cr&#xe9;ateur>
>                 { $b/title }
>                &lt;/livre>
>             }
>&lt;/bib>
></myQR>
>

Henry,

You just convinced me that David is absolutely 100% right. That is so 
ugly and so horribly confusing to users, that I can't possibly see 
accepting it. If a legal XQuery can't be pasted straight into an XML 
document without escaping all the left angle brackets or wrapping it 
in a CDATA section, then this format isn't going to fly. 50% XML, 50% 
meat by-product XQuery is not healthy. It will confuse users and 
developers. There are two ways to fix this:

1. The XSLT solution: Make all XQueries complete, well-formed, XML documents
2. The XPath solution: Make all XQueries look nothing like XML 
documents; i.e. no tags, no elements, no attributes

But pick one or the other. Be hot or cold. If XQuery is lukewarm 
about XML syntax, users will vomit it out of their mouths.
-- 

+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo@metalab.unc.edu | Writer/Programmer |
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|          The XML Bible, 2nd Edition (Hungry Minds, 2001)           |
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