Re: [xml-dev] Create a special purpose programming language, in XML, usi

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

On 18 Oct 2013, at 14:50, David Lee wrote:

> ---- Micheal Kay
> State machines are essentially flowcharts: programming with GOTOs. 
> --------
> 
> I am seriously curious.  Could you (or anyone) explain the fundamental difference between
> state machines, GOTO's and XSLT ?

Sounds to me like you have never written in a language like Fortran or Assembler!

apply-templates is essentially a polymorphic subroutine call. A subroutine call is a "GOTO X AND THEN COME BACK", which is fundamentally different from a plain GOTO X. Subroutine calls give you the basic capability of abstraction that's essential to writing complex programs, because the caller doesn't have to worry about the detail of the callee.
> 

Michael Kay
Saxonica