Re: Is DSSSL-O dead?

>>As for the DTD issue, I
>urge you to reconsider.  To me the SDQL side of DSSSL is of equal if not
>greater importance than the style side; for this the DTD is essential.
>I've also never understood why the DTD is a problem.)  <<

    I agree, however DSSSL-O  is for use with XML, and sometimes (usually)
there will be no DTD present, so DSSSL-O must just work with a well formed
document.

>>Would you consider
>throwing together a memo based on what you found in your course for
>contribution to the DSSSL doco project?<<

    Absolutely, if I can be of any help just let me know. However, I am very
far from being a DSSSL guru, I just learnt enough to teach it!! (Now doesn't
that scare you!!, if you can, do it, if you can't etc..).

Paul in another posting said:

"DSSSL is not that hard, but the syntax frightens people and will always do
so.  Real, honest-to-goodness-I-went-to-university-for-four-years computer
programmers are still scared of fully parenthesized prefix syntax. I
don't think that end-users will ever accept it."

    and I think the relevant phrase is "Real,
honest-to-goodness-I-went-to-university-for-four-years computer
programmers ", because they "know" how things are meant to be done, and when
they come across a contrary idea, they take fright. My students were all
newbies (and some of only average intelligence), but they had no problem
with the concept of a "fully parenthesized prefix syntax" because they
hadn't yet learnt it was "wrong".

Frank



-----Original Message-----
From: Reynolds, Gregg <greynolds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: 'xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' <xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: 'dssslist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' <dssslist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Friday, March 27, 1998 10:03 AM
Subject: RE: Is DSSSL-O dead?


>Bravo, Frank.  The problem of DSSSL has always been the lack of good
>clear prose, not the alleged difficulty of the language itself.  I
>personally have never been able to fathom the "we need to simplify
>DSSSL" argument; in fact DSSSL, like scheme, is a model of simplicity
>and clarity.  The subject matter it addresses may be complex, but DSSSL
>goes a long way to alleviate the complexity; "simplifying" DSSSL will
>not simplify the problem domain.  On the other hand, "we need to improve
>the way DSSSL is presented and taught" is a no-brainer.  It is indeed
>quite hard to learn just from the standard text and scattered samples on
>the net; but once you've learned it you'll never want to go back.
>
>One cavil: I think Jade (with emacs) is very well suited for
>experimentation, but it needs to be packaged appropriately with the
>right supporting materials (I'm working on it).  As for the DTD issue, I
>urge you to reconsider.  To me the SDQL side of DSSSL is of equal if not
>greater importance than the style side; for this the DTD is essential.
>I've also never understood why the DTD is a problem.)  This is an
>indirect way of stressing that SGML is the foundation of the whole
>thing.  For pedagogical purposes (with to SDQL), I should think the
>ability to invent ad hoc document grammars and experiment with
>conforming instances would be very useful; it certainly is for me in my
>DSSSL explorations.
>
>FWIW, I'm trying to follow Mies' advice "don't talk, build"; so sometime
>Real Soon Now I hope to finish some basic intros into various DSSSL
>subjects that I work on when I find the odd hour.  Would you consider
>throwing together a memo based on what you found in your course for
>contribution to the DSSSL doco project?
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Frank Boumphrey [SMTP:bckman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>>
> ...
>
>>     DSSSL is an incredibly powerful language, in fact all the other
>> languages evince a "I want to be like Mike" attitude (for non US
>> readers
>> this refers to a Nike Ad starring Michael Jordan), and I for one would
>> hate
>> to see it relegated again to the marginalia of document authoring.
>>
>>     It strikes me that all the perceived problems are eminently
>> "fixable"
>>
>
>
> XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list
>


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