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Re: What niche is XQuery targeting?

• To: davep@d...
• Subject: Re: What niche is XQuery targeting?
• From: Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@d...>
• Date: Tue, 07 Dec 2004 21:45:53 -0500
• Cc: Michael Champion <michaelc.champion@g...>, xml-dev@l...
• In-reply-to: <1102362609.3885.7.camel@marge>
• References: <200412021353.iB2DrTY07085@s...> <e3a5cb2c0412020657334e5a37@m...> <41AF34F0.7030507@d...> <1102362609.3885.7.camel@marge>
• User-agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.9 (Windows/20041103)

Dave Pawson wrote:
 > On Thu, 2004-12-02 at 10:29 -0500, Jonathan Robie wrote:
 >>XSLT is the Lisp of native XML programming. XQuery is ... more like a
 >>SQL with report writing capabilities.
 >
 > Except:
 >
 > 1. Xquery is not XML AFAIK.

I'm not sure why you say, 'except' - where do we disagree?

The fact that XQuery is not XML is one of the things I was implying
when I said, "XSLT is the Lisp of native XML programming". Lisp, like
XSLT, uses the same representation for data and programs, allowing a
program to be treated as data. XQuery, like SQL, does not. Lisp, like
XSLT, is an extremely useful language with a fanatical following, but
SQL probably has a wider following.

 > 2. Heavily recursive programming in XSLT is far less common that it
 > seems to be perceived here.

Are you saying that XSLT stylesheets that revolve around
<xsl:apply-templates/> are not common? If so, you must be
writing/reading/using very different stylesheets from the ones I see.

 > 3. XSLT was written in XML since the Lisp'ish Scheme used in DSSSL was
 > perceived as 'ard.

'Hard' only makes sense with respect to a given audience. I think
most programmers can pick up a copy of "The Little Lisper" and learn
how to write Lisp programs relatively easily - but in the process,
they will have to learn a whole new way of thinking. Is that hard? I
don't think so, but it does seem to keep Lisp from being a mass
market language.

XSLT is a successful language, and a very useful language. For the
kinds of tasks that drove its design, it's easier to use than
XQuery. For the kind of tasks that drove the design of XQuery, I
prefer XQuery.

Could be more than coincicdence.

Jonathan

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: What niche is XQuery targeting?
    • From: David Carlisle <davidc@n...>
  • RE: What niche is XQuery targeting?
    • From: "Michael Kay" <mike@s...>

• References:
  • What niche is XQuery targeting?
    • From: "Roger L. Costello" <costello@m...>
  • Re: What niche is XQuery targeting?
    • From: Michael Champion <michaelc.champion@g...>
  • Re: What niche is XQuery targeting?
    • From: Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie@d...>
  • Re: What niche is XQuery targeting?
    • From: Dave Pawson <davep@d...>

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