Article:		Processing RSS
Subject:		If so, why we do need XQuery?
Date:		2003-04-12 02:13:07
From:		Christian Schmidt-Guetter
Why we do need XQuery if it does practically the same as XSLT? (But whithout pure XML syntax and therefore less *standard compliant*.)

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• If so, why we do need XQuery?
  2003-04-18 21:58:42 Per Bothner [Reply]
  
  > (But [XQuery] is without pure XML syntax and therefore less *standard compliant*.)

  
  First, I don't understand your implication that there is any connection between XML syntax and "standards compliance".

  
  Secondly, you seem to be suggesting that a programming language is inferior if it doesn't use XML syntax, which is a rather strange claim. I would rather claim that that XML syntax is a terrible syntax to use for programming languages. XSLT is only usable because it uses the very non-XML-syntax of XPath.

  
  Third, XSLT is actually two languages nested within each other, while XQuery is a compatible extension of one of them. So XQuery is quite a conservative language, and it is actually simpler that XSLT.