[
Lists Home |
Date Index |
Thread Index
]
I am actually curious as to how you've convinced people that the fact that
XSLT doesn't have variables [or semi-decent text manipulation facilities]
and it takes one a two page stylesheet to simulate a for loop will give them
as you put it " gain [that] is worth the pain" ?
I tell them about the success of SQL, which was a declarative language that
replaced the procedural interfaces of the previous generation of database
technologies. I try to explain why SQL would not have succeeded if it had
been procedural - specifically, because it would not have enabled
implementors to compete on the strength of their optimizers.
The verbosity of XSLT is a separate question from its declarative nature.
Again, I try to explain the benefits of using an XML-based syntax (the fact
that it makes it very easy to write stylesheets that contain a lot of
boilerplate output, and the fact that it makes stylesheets amenable to
transformation).
In both cases, not everyone is convinced (and I don't even try to pretend
that the arguments are all one way), but if people understand the reasons
and potential benefits they are usually more prepared to put up with the
inconvenience.
Michael Kay
Software AG
home: Michael.H.Kay@ntlworld.com
work: Michael.Kay@softwareag.com
<<attachment: winmail.dat>>
|
