[Xpath-ng] Proposal for static context syntax

[David Rosenborg]

Hi Robin,

> I'm not against using RelaxNG notation, but why not use XPointer's?
> xmlns(foo=http://...)? Somehow it feels more xpathish to me (but then that
makes
> it a personal aesthetic statement). Provided we quoted the content, it'd
follow
> the Function production of XPath 1.0, which may be a plus for backcompat (in
> which case import foo:* would also become import("foo:*")).

In my opinion, the XPointer syntax feels rather contrived when taken
out of its context. That is, it works well with XPointer but
the RELAX NG (and also XQuery which i similiar) feels much
more natural in general. Also, why make it look like a function when it's not?

>
> > The static context preamble appears before any other XPath Ng constructs.
>
> Is that truly necessary? Also, why must it be static? :)

I believe it makes the syntax clearer an a bit easier to process. Also it's
consitent
with RELAX NG and XQuery. The term static context is taken from XPath 2.0
as opposed to the dynamic context which contains the focus etc.

Cheers,
David