Re: Improving XSLT in the browser, was: Use cases

On 03/01/2011 21:54, Julian Reschke wrote:
> On 03.01.2011 01:31, Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis wrote:
>> ...
>> If the root problem addressed by Use Case 4 is developers want easier
>> ways to generate views from models expressed in XML, maybe energies
>> should be redirected from fiddling with text/html parsing to
>> investigating how XSLT could be improved so it doesn't suck so hard. Why
>
> It doesn't suck at all. :-) But of course it would be great to make 
> improvements.

We really need to recognize that different programming languages suit 
different kinds of user and different kinds of task. XSLT suits some 
users and some tasks rather well, and others rather badly. In critiquing 
technologies, we need to be a bit more scientific than sticking "rocks" 
or "sucks" labels on things.

We need to move away from the assumption that we can create a single 
toolset, with no overlaps, that will meet all functional and 
psychological requirements. It's like expecting everyone to drive the 
same kind of car. The platform needs to be heterogeneous and extensible: 
we need to design a shared road infrastructure that can accommodate a 
wide variety of individual vehicles specialized to different purposes or 
aspirations.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

Received on Tuesday, 4 January 2011 00:04:47 UTC