Article:		Architectural Style
Subject:		xslt as glue
Date:		2001-08-17 06:47:50
From:		jim fuller
there are many scopes of problems assoc with manipulating data, most of the solutions or tools assoc with this problem space tend to be overblown in tactical situations. when it comes to the simple transforms from one data format to another xslt can't be beat. as someone who has just ended a 2 year effort in developing a complicated framework that delivers complicated software solutions using xslt, i relise the boundaries of xslt. some key ideas when using xslt; a) to poorly paraphrase steve meunch , 'get your data to its smallest slice, then hand off to xslt" b) always incorp. metadata into your programming idioms, these dormant hooks will serve you well for things u never thought of, and u can use DOM or XSLT to manipulate when the time comes c)it is true that XSLT is doing too much, but at least it allows for pure data centric type programming to occur, which has impressive gains elsewhere in the development workflow d) relise where XSLT stands in your current development, is it the 'glue' or is it it being applied tactically ( kinda like javascript )and in client side situations. i personally ( not because i have a other worldly grasp of XSLT ) do not find XSLT difficult or involved, and i think that tools and editors built on top of xslt which has to be easier to describe and use to non-techies; which of course is the goal; put the data into the hands of the people. i personally believe the success of any technology is directly related to the amount of discourse against its use. cheers, jim fuller

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• xslt as glue
  2001-08-17 07:42:04 Michael Maron