Re: Why do some people not use XSLT to process XML-fo

Hi Roger,

> The project is in its early stages. There might be an opportunity to
convince people to use XSLT
> rather than Java. What argument should I make to persuade them to use
XSLT?

Maybe instead of arguing, organize a small programming competition on
solving an XML-processing - related problem. There should be two competing
teams:


   - Team one. These people use XSLT to solve the problem.
   - Team two. These people use Java.

Pick a problem that is not superficially simple and small, and that can be
solved in a few days in XSLT.


I believe that the results of this competition should speak (a ton) for
themselves, thus no further arguing would be necessary.

I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that the work of the XSLT team
would be 10+ times faster and with significantly higher quality (less
number of bugs discovered in a predefined period).

Thanks,
Dimitre.

On Sun, Nov 3, 2024 at 2:47b/AM Roger L Costello costello@xxxxxxxxx <
xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> I am working on a project that has created a large XML Schema. The
> creators of the XSD deliberately avoided using xs:choice and several other
> XSD constructs (instead of xs:choice, they used xs:sequence containing
> optional elements). They did this because: (1) the XML documents -- which
> conform to the XSD -- will be processed by Java, and (2) the skeletal
> structure of the Java is to be auto-generated from the XSD using a data
> binding tool and the data binding tool doesn't support xs:choice and the
> other XSD constructs.
>
> Thus, a limitation in the data binding tool dictated how the XSD was
> designed.
>
> If they were using XSLT to process the XML, then the creators of the XSD
> wouldn't have been under the limitation, i.e., schema-aware XSLT has no
> problem with xs:choice or any other XSD construct.
>
> I don't understand why anyone would not use XSLT to process XML documents.
> The XSLT language was explicitly designed for processing XML documents,
> i.e., XSLT is a domain specific language (DSL). When a DSL exists,
> shouldn't it always be chosen over a general-purpose language such as Java?
>
> The project is in its early stages. There might be an opportunity to
> convince people to use XSLT rather than Java. What argument should I make
> to persuade them to use XSLT?
>
> SAXON processes XSLT using Java. Why? Why doesn't SAXON use XSLT to
> process XSLT? Should I infer that the XSLT language is not powerful enough
> with certain types of programming?
>
> /Roger