Why Start with XSL?
Suppose someone has an XML document and needs to create another XML document from it. If both XSL and the query language are capable of generating XML from XML, the person has a bit of a dilemma. Either technology would suffice. Let s say the person decides to go with XSL. A few weeks or months down the road this person may find that the query language was the proper choice and now must replace all occurrences of XSL stylesheets with XML queries. Substitute “person” with “W3C working group” and it becomes easy to see the dilemmas we could be creating for the W3C in the future. This scenario suggests that the W3C should at least attempt to ensure that it recommends compatible technologies for similar functionality. Here are some reasons for borrowing technology from XSL: • When there are fewer standards for a given task, vendor support is less divided among the standards, and vendor products are more interoperable. • The fewer technologies users have to learn, the easier and faster it i
