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RE: Declarative XML Processing with XQuery

• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: RE: Declarative XML Processing with XQuery
• From: "Michael Champion" <michael.champion@h...>
• Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 15:43:19 -0800
• Bcc:
• In-reply-to: <15725CF6AFE2F34DB8A5B4770B7334EE07207647@h...>

>From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <len.bullard@i...>
>To: 'Michael Champion' <michael.champion@h...>
>CC: "'xml-dev@l...'" <xml-dev@l...>
>Subject: RE:  Declarative XML Processing with XQuery
>Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 15:35:03 -0600
>
>Hjelsberg's discussion takes a bit longer to absorb but
>is well worth it.

There are a couple of others that I think are worthwhile for people 
interested in LINQ and XML

http://microsoft.sitestream.com/PDC05/DAT/DAT324_files/Default.htm#nopreload=1&autostart=1
http://microsoft.sitestream.com/PDC05/TLN/TLN306_files/Default.htm#nopreload=1&autostart=1

(Mangle the URLs I sent earlier for the FF-friendly components   -- 
s/TLN307/TLN306 , etc.)


>So why exactly do we want to use XQuery or XLinq?
>
>One reason, with my limited practical experience, that
>comes to mind is that this is a lot like Foxpro in that
>Foxpro, being a dedicated database programming language,
>was a lot more productive than doing the same work in say,
>Visual Basic.  Having the queries in the procedural language
>(once one mastered USE) was quite powerful and real rapid
>prototyping.

I think that's the main reason -- making queries a first-class feature of 
the programming language rather than strings passed to an API. There's also 
the tool support (Intellisense, debuggers, etc.) that makes it easier to 
learn and remember the query features.

Also, and getting back to the original topic, querying data in lists, 
arrays, object graphs, etc. as well as XML trees  has a much more 
declarative feel to it and allows optimizers to do the heavy lifting to get 
efficient navigation over the various data structures.  Say what one will 
about that's what programmers are supposed to learn in school, the fact 
remains that the Hjelsbergs of the world will do it an order of magnitude 
better than many of us, and the declarative approach lets us say what we 
want to happen, and them generate the detailed instructions to make it 
happen.

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• References:
  • RE: Declarative XML Processing with XQuery
    • From: "Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <len.bullard@i...>

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