RE: XSLT/XPATH 2.0

> I wonder, why the current browsers do not yet implement 
> xslt/xpath 2.0 neither does php. Am I right?

Certainly, implementation of XSLT 2.0 has been slower than many people
hoped. However, as an encouraging sign, IBM quietly announced a beta release
of an XSLT 2.0 processor a few days ago, bundled as a Websphere "Feature
Pack".

http://webspherecommunity.blogspot.com/2009/04/was-open-xml-feature-pack-bet
a.html

So there are signs of movement. On the other hand, Intel has quietly dropped
some of their XML products:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-xml-software-products/

For a vendor, the economics are difficult. It's difficult to produce a
business case for investment when the market has an expectation that the
technology will be free. People will do a version 1.0 with wildly ambitious
plans based on capturing 70% market share and driving $Nm in services
revenue; but when you're doing a version 2.0, you can't get away with the
same level of blind optimism. And the "open-source amateurs" - people like
Colin Adams working in their spare time (or like me when I started) - are
also less attracted to devoting all their waking hours to doing a version
2.0 of something that's been around for 10 years, especially when there's
already a clear market leader that satisfies most users' needs.

> Is the xslt/xpath 2.0 recommendation rather a bubble or does 
> it make sense to teach it to undergraduate students? Why?
> Are there signs on the horizon that xslt/xpath 2.0 will 
> become more spread soon?

Well, I'm a strong believer in the notion that when you teach
undergraduates, you choose your technology for its ability to teach ideas
and principles, not because you think your students will be using that
particular set of products in the first six months of their subsequent
career. You want to give them an education, not vocational training; to
produce professional engineers, not artisans. From that point of view,
choosing to teach XSLT 1.0 rather than 2.0 would seem absurd.

> 
> BTW, I love the 2.0 possibilities including the schema awareness...
> 

There is no doubt that XSLT 2.0 has been a big hit with users. I think the
state of the software market is very distorted at the moment, making it
difficult to translate that enthusiasm into funds to invest in product
development. I have thought for many years that a piece of software like an
XSLT processor should sell at around $25, which would easily generate the
revenue needed to cover the cost of development.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/