Re: Pattern-directed programming using XSLT

Roger, this is cool, but how would you respond to the argument that in XSLT
it's really not strings, but trees?

Strings are important partly because these are labelled trees, with all
kinds of stuff hanging off them. But XSLT and XPath are all about working
with trees and branches, are they not?

Regards, Wendell

On Tue, Jun 7, 2022 at 6:57 AM Roger L Costello costello@xxxxxxxxx <
xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> Page 83 of the dragon compiler book [1] says:
>
> "The techniques used to implement lexical analyzers can also be applied to
> other areas such as query languages and information retrieval systems. In
> each application, the underlying problem is the specification and design of
> programs that execute actions triggered by patterns in strings. Since
> pattern-directed programming is widely useful, we introduce a
> pattern-action language called Lex for specifying lexical analyzers."
>
> As I read that, it occurred to me, "Hey, when I implement XSLT programs
> using template rules, I am doing pattern-directed programming! XSLT is a
> pattern-action language!"
>
> Neat!
>
> /Roger
>
> [1] "Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools" by Aho, Sethi, Ullman
> 
>
>

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