RE: [xml-dev] SGML complexity

["Michael Kay" <mike@saxonica.com>]

> However, I sincerely doubt that you can reject that larger 
> TPC index of PHP or JavaScript over XSLT is an outcome of 
> 'flawed' statistics or 'biased' data.

No, I think we all know intuitively that more people use Javascript or PHP
than use XSLT, just as we know that there's probably more data in Excel than
in XML. I just think that publishing one-liners like "popularity = 0.069%"
as if that actually meant anything is rather childish.

We also know from experience that there are a lot of people who find the
learning curve for XSLT too steep for them, and who give up in frustration.
On the other hand, those who get past the learning barriers generally like
what they find on the other side. It's my hope and belief that XSLT 2.0
eliminates many of the obstacles. But as long as there are people around
whose powers of abstraction don't extend to thinking of nodes rather than
tags, there will always be some people whose cup of tea it is not. That
doesn't worry me greatly.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/