[ANN] First public beta release of Saxon-JS

Just in time for Balisage, we're delighted to announce the first public beta
release of Saxon-JS. Details here:

http://www.saxonica.com/saxon-js/index.xml

Saxon-JS allows execution of XSLT 3.0 stylesheets in the browser. In due
course (but not yet) it will also become available in other environments such
as Node.js.

We'll be presenting details of Saxon-JS at Balisage next week.

Saxon-JS is a run-time only product; you first need to compile the stylesheet
using Saxon-EE (9.7.0.7 or later). The compiled form (called a "stylesheet
export file") is an XML document in a Saxon-specific format, so you can
prepare the stylesheet on a development workstation and then deploy it
anywhere on the web.

Saxon-JS is planned as a replacement for Saxon-CE. It shares with Saxon-CE the
ability to write interactive applications, where template rules with modes
such as "ixsl:onclick" respond to user interaction. Unlike Saxon-CE, it's a
new product written in pure Javascript (Saxon-CE was the Java product stripped
down and cross-compiled using GWT), which makes it much smaller and more
manageable.

Saxon-JS at its first release has almost complete coverage of XPath 3.1
(including maps, arrays, and JSON), plus support for many XSLT 3.0 features
such as try/catch and text value templates. To keep it small, it omits most
optional features including schema awareness, streaming, and higher order
functions.

At this beta release we haven't attempted comprehensive testing on all
browsers. Most of our development has been on Safari and Firefox. We know for
sure that it doesn't yet work on Internet Explorer. Feedback on browser issues
is particularly welcome.

The product documentation at
http://www.saxonica.com/saxon-js/documentation/index.html is a Saxon-JS
application, so if you can read the documentation, then Saxon-JS works on your
brorwser.

There's a project set up on http://saxonica.plan.io/ for feedback. We're
looking forward to your reactions.

Michael Kay
Saxonica