Xquery instead of xslt

[Tom Corcoran]

I am working to ease updating of a html page by transforming 2 xml files. I was going to use xslt for this and had bought 2 unopened books, wrox xslt and o'reilly's xslt cookbook. But am now wondering if I am better of learning XQuery instead?

Any thought and opinions would be appreciated.

Cheers - Tom.

The Architect: "Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness" The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

 

[strajan]

Please see the following from :
http://www.ibiblio.org/xml/slides/sd2002west/xslt2/109.html

What's the difference between XQuery and XSLT?
XSLT is document-driven; XQuery is program driven

XSLT is functional; XQuery is imperative

XSLT is written in XML; XQuery is not

An assertion (unproven): XSLT 2.0 can do everything XQuery can do

I guess for transforming xml to html, xsl would be a better tool.

All the best.

 

[Xavier Franc]

XSLT is functional; XQuery is imperative

Wrong. XML Query is a functional language, like XSLT.
A more correct assertion would be:
XSLT is declarative, XQuery is imperative

XSLT is written in XML; XQuery is not

For a human programmer, a non-XML syntax is an advantage IMHO. Anyway there was and there will be again a XML syntax for XML Query.

An assertion (unproven): XSLT 2.0 can do everything XQuery can do

It is almost true, but XQ has a more flexible processing model: you can build intermediary trees, and work on these trees in the same way as on input documents. Conversely, XQ lacks of the template/apply-templates mechanism of XSLT. It can however be emulated by functions and 'typeswitch'.

So Apart from the syntax, XML Query and XSLT2 are quite close to each other. They could even be unified in one language.

* XQuery is not yet a stable recommendation. For production projects it is not advisable to use it.

* Usable up to date open-source implementations:
- Michael Kay's Saxon 7 (http://saxon.sf.net):
XML Query and XSLT 2 (almost complete)
- Qizx/open (http://www.xfra.net/qizxopen/):
XML Query only