RE: Evaluation function

So let keep the eval() function in mind for the next version of XQuery: this
gap is a drip in the ocean.
I have forgotten to congratulate all of yours that have participated to the
very long process of specifying this great language.

We have developed an engine implementing most of the expressions and running
on top of an abstract layer independent from the document source formats: we
and our customers are really impressed how powerful, concise and elegant is
this language for querying information from XML or binary files whatever
their location.

Regards

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Jonathan Robie [mailto:jonathan.robie@datadirect.com]
Envoye : vendredi 23 juillet 2004 17:26
A : Stephane Mbaye
Cc : XQuery
Objet : Re: Evaluation function

Yes, for all practical purposes I suspect the debate is closed for
XQuery 1.0, unles new information is presented. You can try sending a
comment to our public comments list (public-qt-comments@w3.org), but I
doubt that you'll get much traction with this.

XQuery is already a fairly large language for a 1.0 standard, and we
have no requirement for eval() in our requirements or use case for
eval() in our use cases. Changing the requirements at this stage is not
a great idea, we should be closing things down to ship instead.

And every 1.0 standard should leave users with something they can want
in the 2.0 version...

Jonathan

Stephane Mbaye wrote:

> Thank you for your answers.
>
> It sounds that an evaluating expression is an interesting issue for many
> users and purposes. I understand, however, how complex it could be to
> specify this function, and in particular with regard to the conversion of
> the dynamic context to the static evaluation context (e.g. should the
> (sub-)expression declare, as "external", the variables to inherit from the
> outer context? Should the current date time be reinitialized? etc.).
>
> Nevertheless, I am convinced it is not an impossible process and, should
an
> evaluate() function be specified, it could have very constraining
> specifications. As an example, it may be totally independent from the
> static/dynamic context of the calling query. It may also have
> implementation-defined or implementation- dependent features such as many
> other components of the XQuery language.
>
> My concern is at least to have a standardized/common
specification/baseline,
> to avoid or minimize the number of different implementations of the same
> thing.
>
> Is the debate completely closed?

Received on Friday, 23 July 2004 11:43:01 UTC