Re: variable outside a for-each loop: second try

At 04:08 AM 9/21/2007, Abel wrote:

And yes, many people, to their own misfortune, still manage to struggle with XSLT 1.0

I bet that on reconsideration Abel might recast this to be somewhat milder.

May I answer that in XSLT 2.0?
deep-equal(//abel, //abel[. castable as xs:milder])

There's nothing wrong with XSLT 1.0. As with anything, it's only a "struggle" if you're working outside the boundaries of what it does well -- a wide range of tasks, indeed wider than those for which it was developed (which is part of what accounts for its present ubiquity).

Everything else being equal, Abel and others (including myself) will generally prefer XSLT 2.0 because the range of tasks for which it is well suited is wider than ever, while what was easy in XSLT 1.0 remains easy.

This doesn't mean 1.0 is useless or a mistake any more than having a GUI means the command line is now useless or a mistake. Indeed, as long as XSLT 1.0 remains as widespread as it is (and my guess that 2.0 processors will displace 1.0 processors only gradually, and perhaps never completely), programmers who know how to work within its contraints will be at an advantage compared to those who can only use 2.0, having become dependent on its features, or never having known the difference.

Cheers,
-- Abel Braaksma