Re: appeal for fn:match and fn:apply

I agree with Michael Kay's analysis.

I also don't think that either of these are new issues, so I will not 
place them on our issues list unless instructed to do so by the Working 
Groups.

Jonathan

Michael Kay wrote:
> This isn't an official response, jsut a personal one.
> 
> Generally, the WGs aren't disposed to consider requests for new features at
> the moment. We want to get the current releases of the languages finished,
> and the only way to do this is to stop adding things.
> 
> The functionality of your fn:match is a subset of what can be achieved by
> xsl:analyze-string in XSLT 2.0. XQuery WG decided that this level of
> capability went beyond what was needed in XQuery 1.0. I think most use cases
> for this kind of functionality require the construction of new elements to
> contain matched substrings, which your design does not readily allow.
> 
> Your fn:apply is a simple (in fact, simplistic) solution to the need for
> higher-order functions. The WGs have decided not to do higher-order
> functions this time around because of the complexity involved in getting
> them to work in a way that doesn't break the type system. I think you'll
> find that a majority of the WG is opposed to a solution like this that might
> meet 80% of the requirement, but is essentially slipping in a fundamental
> language feature by the back door.
> 
> Michael Kay

Received on Monday, 16 August 2004 13:53:53 UTC