Re: Rescuing XSLT from Niche Status

> > eventually they ask, why not just use PHP, which has a simpler syntax
> > and is more tolerant of trial and error (i.e. if you get something
> > nearly right you get some sort of results, whereas write select =
> > "gunge" when you meant select="'gunge'" you'll be staring at zero
> > output). And I don't have an answer to that question if XSLT is
> > understood as a scripting mechanism, not as a tool for styling in the
> > broadest sense.
> 
> This is a good question.  If you are using XSLT like a templating language,
> why not just use one of the existing popular ones (PHP, ASP, etc).  IMHO,
> the main benefits are enforced separation of the views from the controller
> and model and language independece.  Technologies like PHP just make it too
> easy to embed the controller and even parts of the model directly into pages
> which leads to a nightmare for maintenance.

Ugh!  Not that perverted Smalltalk window on the world again.

How can the PHP, ASP or XSLT pull approach vaguely be considered a separattion 
between...  OK I'll say it: view and model/controller?

Time to go wash my mouth.

> Since many languages have strong XML support and databases are comming along
> nicely, it is easy for the program's model to generate dynamic XML
> documents.  This allows the model and controllers to be built using
> components written in different languages (e.g. SOAP).

You have DOM, you have XPath, so why bother?  The rest of XSLT/Pull is just 
excessive typing.


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                               Principal Consultant
uche.ogbuji@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx               +1 303 583 9900 x 101
Fourthought, Inc.                         http://Fourthought.com 
4735 East Walnut St, Ste. C, Boulder, CO 80301-2537, USA
Software-engineering, knowledge-management, XML, CORBA, Linux, Python



 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list