Re: XSL frustration (was: Re: N : M transformation)

It seems to me XSLT just "isn't there" yet, is it?

It depends. XSLT works very well for purposes it was (finally)
designed: tree-to-tree transformations. It was not the goal
to retire every other tool under the sun. A professional
ought to have a toolbox, and the experience to choose the
proper tool for the job at hand. Of course, the definition
of "proper" may vary.
If you regularly run into restrictions, and can't take
advantage of the stengths of XSLT to offset this, then
you'll have to use something else.
If you still think there is so much transformation involved
in your tasks that XSLT ought to be "nearly there" but still
doesn't quite match, you probably have some problems on the
architectural level. You wouldn't believe how often I've seen
this.