[Xpath-ng] RE: thoughts on work products

[Uche Ogbuji]

> 
> 
> 
> Jeni wrote:
> 
> >The problem as I see it: XPath should be something that's usable in
> >multiple different contexts -- in XSLT, in XQuery, in schema languages,
> in >XForms, in XPointer, in DOM, etc. etc. etc.
> 
> The problem I worry about is a features creep maybe added in because the
> person who thought of it used XPath in the context of a language for
> which that feature was extremely beneficial, not considering that it
> might be in fact detrimental in other contexts. I know a lot of people
> are fans of the ability to use if, for constructs in XPath 2.0, I'm not
> for the reason that in my usages of XPath 1.0 I am nearly always using
> it in a context, for example a programming language, where one has one's
> own if, for constructs and therefore I worry that various forms of
> strengthening the language will make for debugging problems in
> programming languages, of course if it becomes more and more complex,
> and more like an embedded programming language in itself, expertise in
> it will become first a valuable addition to the CV and later a necessary
> addition. 

I agree that this is a danger.  I think this is where modularization can help. 
 I think we should exercise as much discipline as possible to keep the XPath 
NG core lean, and then let the modules proliferate.  We can then choose a 
basic profile along 80/20 principles.  Such bottom-up standardization will 
probably end up far less complex than the result of the top-down W3C WG 
approach.


> Having said the above, I would be happy to accept an XPath NG with
> stronger selection capabilities such as if and for, just as I would have
> been happy to accept them for XPath 2.0, if one could get rid of the
> obnoxious schema stuff. 


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                                    Fourthought, Inc.
http://uche.ogbuji.net    http://4Suite.org    http://fourthought.com
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