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Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 17 Jul 2003 15:33:55 +0200
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Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <[log in to unmask]>
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Joachim Schrod <[log in to unmask]>
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>>>>> "TB" == Torsten Bronger <[log in to unmask]> writes:
TB> Joachim Schrod <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>> [...] XSLT is a write-only language when it comes to implementing
>> the "intermediate steps" above, that's no improvement to TeX macro
>> programming. It has poor semantics (like TeX, it's even missing
>> elementary boolean clauses),

TB> XPath has boolean expressions, and XSLT knows "choose" and "if".

<xsl:if> has no else part.

<xsl:choose> doesn't accept fully regular boolean expressions, e.g.,
sometimes NOT conditions are forbidden due to brain damage on the
language designer's part. This leads to the point that one has to
duplicate code which is always bad for maintenance.


>> and its syntax is horrible to read and thus maintenance is hard.

TB> Well, it's a matter of getting used to.  But you're right, finding
TB> fellow developers is very difficult.

Sorry, it's more. If you're willing to pay developers, you'll find
them. :-) But even then, in mid-sized projects (i.e., > 50,000 lines
of XSLT code), many of them have difficulties in reading their own
code after a year has passed. I won't want to speak of large projects,
they're most often short before disasters.

Cheers,
        Joachim

--
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Joachim Schrod                                  Email: [log in to unmask]
Roedermark, Germany

        ``How do we persuade new users that spreading fonts across the page
        like peanut butter across hot toast is not necessarily the route to
        typographic excellence?''                       -- Peter Flynn

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