[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: First experiences with XSL
Betty Harvey wrote: > > On Sat, 31 Jan 1998, len bullard wrote: > > > > > Can anyone show that XSL (if indeed, a Turing complete language) is any > > easier > > than Java? XSL is a programmig language and there are far more mortals > > (programmers in some cases) who understand and can easily use Java than > > XSL/DSSSL. Why? Object-oriented programming is the rule > > not the exception in programming communities. JavaScript has a > > tremendous > > advantage in that stepping up to Java from JavaScript incurs no > > shocks of syntax. It is an easy transition. > > > > Len: > > My experience is it is XSL is easier. I was able to > take the XSL tutorial and create a simple example of an > XSL stylesheet. > > If you have Microsoft Explorer 4.0 or higher you can test my first > example at: http://www.eccnet.com/xmledi. > > My initial thoughts are that it doesn't do everything I > want it to do - but I am going to hold judgement until the XSL > standard becomes more stable. Initially - I am impressed and > looking forward to what XSL will offer us - thank goodness > someone is not only thinking about style and behavior but > moving towards a standard implementation effort - what > FOSI tried to do 8 years ago. > > Betty That is good to hear. Yet, the XSL/XLL discussion to me has the feel of attending a summer stock presentation of Hamlet: famous lines all carefully memorized, spoken thousands of times before, and Hamlet still dies in the last scene. Don't take it as a "I don't like XSL" but a cautionary, "we know our parts so well we can sleepwalk through them." So yes, compelling examples are needed. The FOSI perished in complexity, HyTime has almost met the same fate, and DSSSL never got out of the gate before events and technology have overtook it. We have to meet the criticism that XML technology is a solution looking for a problem. We need something better than the same defenses we presented for SGML/HyTime/DSSSL to the same criticism. <crystalBall> I sense a deflation in the enamouring of the Web. Joe Q Public has discovered the anemia of the infrastructure. Still, experimental team efforts such as VRMLDream which will demonstrate a puppeteering technology for virtual theatre has promise. For these applications, it is 1945 and each TV network is a world unto itself. These groups see the Internet as a broadcasting medium. Maybe Clinton will survive his current problems and deliver on that "1000X the bandwidth" promise. There is little doubt that replacing the Internet infrastructure is needed ASAP. Business interest is stable, yet the groups who control the corporate standards are from printing backgrounds and marketing. They see the Internet as a publishing medium. They tend to be underwhelmingly technically talented, aversive to technology whose practicioners they do not control, and able to restrict the application at the heart of the matter: funding. While the true practicioner seeks to expand capability, the purse stringers seek to restrict it and successfully. It is necessary to look at the whole of the framework and how that can best meet business needs, in content developement, maintenance, production, and distribution. The architectures must be sold accordingly. (one rung up the CALS spiral). Beware jargon; beware complex examples, beware precise description that fails to engender imaginative application. The hook is the imagination. Sink the hook to reel in the fish. Overall efficiency is becoming the primary issue given the size and bugginess of the framework. Building evermore compelling and sustainable content is still the goal. Just remember that many many groups do not believe that putting long lifecycle information assets on the WWW is a good thing to do. Find out why. </crystalball> best, len xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; (un)subscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
|
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|