RE: full axis pragmas?

[Michael Kay]

> any takers for
> 
> (#exquery:following * #) {
> (let $here := . return
>    root()/descendant::*[. >> $here] except descendant::*)
> }
> 
> seriously http://monet.nag.co.uk/xq2xml/index.html#s6 rewrites queries
> to avoid optional axes,


Perhaps a better solution would be to publish a free-standing open-source
converter that converts a query using optional axes to the same query
without optional axes. This would (a) embarrass XQuery vendors into
incorporating this technology into their products, given that users can see
how easy it is to do, and (b) enable users to write queries using the
optional axes without feeling they might be locked out from some products.

But having an informally-standardized pragma QName for syntax that some
products recognize and others don't seems a nice idea as well. 

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