XQuery as a general data processing language WAS: XQuery and Web 2.0

[Jason Hunter]

Peter Coppens wrote:
> 
> If XQuery has the ambition to become a general 
> (data) processing language it will have to integrate (or work) 
> seamlessly with <your preferred oo programming language> object model.

I see XQuery as a general _content_ processing language.  Emails are 
content.  So are books, magazines, tutorials, lesson plans, flight 
manuals, governmental records, IRS filings, and so on.

These things fit poorly into a classical object model.

Question: How do you model a mixed content article in Java?

Answer: Not very effectively.  :)

Most people think of content as something you hold as a blob and access 
via its metadata or simple textual search.  If instead you think of 
content as a rich description language, then you will see the world like 
we do on MarkMail.  It's about content, not data.  And putting Java in 
the picture would be a royal pain because mixed content things like 
email aren't nearly as effectively modeled in Java as they are in XML.

This is why Daniela is onto something.  Most Web 2.0 apps are content 
apps, not data apps.

-jh-