RE: The output of evaluating an XSLT transform is the

I think there may be confusion between "what order things get done" and "what
order things are present in the output document".
I'm getting the impression that the OP is asking how, if things can be done in
any order, does the output document appear with everything in the order as
expected.  And that it is that which is the area of uncertainty.

The "Hello" node and the "World" node may be executed in any order, or
simultaneously, but their ordering in the input document(s) affects their
ordering in the output.

It's probably something like - All nodes get executed in whatever the
processor wants, but by the time the output document appears everything has
been put into the order the spec requires, given the ordering in the input doc
and the templates.


Or something like that.

Uncertainly,
Richard.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Costello, Roger L. [mailto:costello@xxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 13 April 2010 13:16
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE:  The output of evaluating an XSLT transform
> is the same regardless of the order in which output elements
> are evaluated. Right?
>
> Ken Holman wrote:
>
> > I'm curious:  why is the "how" important?  I work with these
> > technologies every day and I don't care *how* the processor
> fulfills
> > the spec, as long as the spec is fulfilled.  A stylesheet writer's
> > responsibility is to understand how the specification works.
>
> Here are a couple answers:
>
> 1. I have a "gut feeling" that if I understand _why_ an XSLT
> document can be executed in parallel then it will help me
> write better XSLT documents.
>
> 2. I am trying to shift from an imperative mindset to a
> declarative mindset. I have always written XSLT in terms of
> sequential, step-by-step processing. The declarative mindset
> invites me to break out of that way of thinking, into a more
> parallel mode of thinking. I want to stop doing FORTRAN in
> XSLT. Understanding how things can be done in parallel will
> help me ... I think.
>
> /Roger