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Re: [xsl] Locating an attribute and its value indirectly


Subject: Re: [xsl] Locating an attribute and its value indirectly
From: Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:54:50 -0500

Hi Ken,

On 11/7/2011 1:12 PM, G. Ken Holman wrote:
So does this also mean the concepts of "current node list" etc. go by
the boards? (Now going to look and see.)

Yes, it does ... it is now the "context list".


J.2.1 Pervasive changes

The description of the evaluation context has been
changed. The concepts of current node and current
node list have been replaced by the XPath concepts
of context item, context position, and context size.

Though I don't often remember to use that terminology since the list
sometimes has to be nodes. For example in XSLT 1 and 2 some constructs
(like the "/" operator) require the context list returned by left hand
side to be a node list ... but I understand this is likely to be changed
in the next version.

From my point of view, what's trickiest about all this is not the specifications themselves or how the formalisms are defined and deployed, but about terminologies and explanations. This material is hard enough to learn (and teach) already. (Of course this isn't to say that you don't do a masterful job at teaching it, or even that none of the rest of us do: just that it's not trivial.) The distinction between "current node" and "context node" was already fairly abstruse, indeed meaningless outside the context (ahem) of XSLT. I am not sure that the disappearance of the distinction isn't going to make it even more difficult. Experience will tell.


Mind you, this isn't meant as a complaint: I understand that progress has its price (in this case, the XQuerification of XSLT?), and it wouldn't be the first time I was anxious about something that didn't turn out to be a problem.

And I don't mind at all that you point out nuances in my posts, Wendell
... we are all participating to help posters and enrich the archive.

Of course -- I didn't suppose you'd mind, but even if I did :-> -- as you say it's about the readers, those who post and those who don't. (And I'm sure you wouldn't miss a chance to reciprocate in any case. :-)


Cheers,
Wendell

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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
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