Re: How to cope with the complexity of an XSLT program

Hi Roger,

> Question: what techniques do you use to control the complexity of a large
XSLT program?

Answer: Use function libraries and Functional Programming.

Through the years (since 2002) I have consistently used FXSL to solve many
problems considered "not for XSLT" or "almost unsolvable with XSLT".

It deserves to have a look back in time. See for example, how the templates
of the random.xsl module of FXSL are organized:
http://fxsl.sourceforge.net/articles/Random/Casting%20the%20Dice%20with%20FXS
L-htm.htm

For some time I have been developing what could be considered the XPath
equivalent of FXSL. Using XPath function libraries can be the ultimate
approach at systematically using the FP style and techniques. One can
implement and reuse complete,  new and reusable data-types (data
structures) that significantly facilitate problem solving via abstraction
and application of well-known algorithms using these data types.

See for example this: "The Binary Search Tree Data Structurebhaving fun
with XPath 3.0" at
https://dnovatchev.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/the-binary-search-tree-data-struc
turehaving-fun-with-xpath-3-0/,
which was implemented 10 years ago.

Around the same time I described how to implement recursion within
anonymous functions, and thus fully use the FP style in XPath.

One can also build "objects" and "interfaces" with maps, whose "leaf-nodes"
values are functions.Passing these as parameters, one can implement
dependency injection and testability.

And we can go on and on...

Thanks,
Dimitre

On Thu, Jun 2, 2022 at 4:45 AM Roger L Costello costello@xxxxxxxxx <
xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> I have an XSLT program with thousands of template rules.
>
> Ugh!
>
> It's too much complexity for my tiny brain.
>
> To help deal with the complexity I have implemented the following:
>
> 1. I split up the template rules across a number of files. Less template
> rules in a file seems to reduce the stress on my brain.
>
> 2. I make extensive use of ENTITIES. I have come to love ENTITIES! They
> are super helpful -- way less errors -- to define a value in one place and
> then use the value (via an ENTITY reference) in many places.
>
> 3. Hundreds of my template rules are empty, e.g.,
>
>     <xsl:template match="(sid|star)/supplementalData">
>         <xsl:param name="TRM_PAR_row" as="element(row)"/>
>     </xsl:template>
>
> To shrink things, I changed those empty rules using the XML empty tag
> abbreviation, e.g.,
>
> <xsl:template match="(sid|star)/supplementalData"/>
>
> That helps make the files a bit shorter. Shorter is better for my brain.
>
> Question: what techniques do you use to control the complexity of a large
> XSLT program?
>
> /Roger
>
>
>

--
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev
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