#accu2006 Proposal: XPath2, XSLT2 and XQuery - The Three Legs of XML Searching and Transformation
Despite not having any idea what to talk about, I've just submitted a proposal anyway. It's what professionalism's all about kids.
You can search an XML document with XSLT2 and you can style an XML document with XQuery. No wait ... no, that's right. And the other way round too. In that case, do we need both? Can we bin one of them? Is it just an accident of corporate politicing that they both exist?
In this session I'd like to sprint through XSLT2 and the new features it adds to the existing XSLT spec. That will necessarily lead to an examination of XPath2, the expression language it incorporates. Since XPath2 also forms the basis of XQuery, I obviously can't ignore that, and intend to spend a reasonable chunk of time comparing XSLT2 and XQuery, looking at their similarities, differences and intended usage.
Since query and transformation languages are rarely used in isolation (when was the last time you wrote a naked SQL query?), I also want to look at using XPath2 and XSLT2 from a host language (probably Java, since it currently has the best tool support).
Duration: 90 minutes
Intended Audience: This session assumes a degree of familiarity with XML and at least some idea of what XSLT is about.
Speaker Bio: Jez sits in his attic and types for a living. He's let out to walk the dog and go swimming occasionally.
I describe myself as a C++ programmer, but I also spend a reasonable amoutn of time working in Java and C#. Over the last several years, everything I done has had some type of XML data flying around somewhere. Without really meaning to I've become really pretty comfortable with XML processing, particular with some kind of publishing slant.
Note: I'm aware that Tony Barratt-Powell has submitted a proposal for a session introducing XQuery. It's not my intention to compete with that - quite the opposite, particular as he has a datebase slant while my XML background is much more publishing oriented. Assuming we both get offered a session, I intend to work with Tony to ensure I present something which complements his material.
Note that I avoided a comedy title this year. Learned that lesson. Author bio needs work, but I'm relying on the fact that I know, or have at least met, most of the people on the conference committee.
Clearly I'm going to be winging it a little and relying on the cutting-edgeness of XSLT2 and XQuery to carry me. XQuery and especially XSLT2 are hardly widely deployed at the moment, a situation that's unlikely to change massively between now and next April, even if the W3C gets the specs to recommendation status. On the other hand, XQuery implementations are breaking out all over, so it's going to be hard to completely ignore. With XQuery on the up, it'll important for the people know how it relates to XSLT2. Or something.
Allan, if you're reading this then pretend that last paragraph is really punchy and convincing :)
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# Just back from seeing Bom and his Magic Drumstick,
The Retro Spankees and
Misty's Big Adventure at a pub round the corner. They were all top and it was lots of fun. I especially enjoyed
Erotic Volvo crawling through my legs.
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# Paul and Jez's Stream-a-poloza slides available. At last.
C++ IOStreams - what they do, how they work, why you might want to write your own, and how to do it without pain or fuss.
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# While I spent yesterday pretending to work whilst actually listening to the cricket, chum Pete spent the day enhancing the gaiety of the nation. Print geek that he is, he got up extra early (or possibly stayed up all night) to buy a new teeny-tiny format copy of The Guardian. He liked it, but noticed that Doonesbury was missing. Doonesbury is a long running newspaper strip cartoon that isn't like any other long running strip cartoon because it's a) consistently funny and b) politically aware and often satirical, so much so that many American newspapers run it on the op-ed pages rather than in the "funnies" section.
So anyway, Pete mails The Guardian asking where it is. They reply pretty quickly, which isn't bad going since they've presumably been up all night prepping the paper. They also speeled his name wrong in the process. Bless. Maybe it was this that suddenly turned Pete into a rabble-rouser and, by the time I get home from my evening dog walk to look over my fresh new teeny-tiny Guardian, they've caved and will reinstate Doonesbury as of next Monday, with a catch-up page this Friday. Hurrah for the internet and all that.
The irony is that Pete hasn't bought an actual physical copy of The Guardian for ages and reads Doonesbury online. If not him though, then someone else. I'm surprised it was dropped, because the British public have shown themselves time and time again to be extremely sensitive to this kind of apparently minor tinkering. You only have to look at the abuse Radio 4 controllers take should they dare to suggest that perhaps The Archers should go on 10 minutes earlier, or that the Radio 4 theme is now, after decades of use, maybe due an overhaul. Cricket matches starting at 10:30 not 11:00 is, to many, an outrage. Moving the crossword to a different page in the paper causes apolexy in crossword-solving public. Dropping Doonesbury was always going to be a bad plan, and has no doubt distracted many people from properly appreciating what is a rather cool new format.
Pete Ashton said It was the "we removed it for space reasons" thing that set me off, especially when there's plenty of space in the rest of g2. But I'm over it now.
Was kinda fun rousing the rabble though. [added 13th Sep 2005]
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# Badger is now one chickpea-sized lump and a large chunk of surrounding dog lighter. The lump will be off to the
Animal Health Trust for further analysis. He'll be back home later this afternoon.
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# Badger's off for surgery again tomorrow. The lump I found is another tumour. It's the same type, but it's too far from the first one to be a secondary tumour. It's a second tumour, if you see what I mean. Ah well, fingers crossed it comes out ok.
anonymous said Fingers crossed from Canada. [added 8th Sep 2005]
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#If I get squashed by a bus today, I'll die happy
Tired. Tired but, as it goes, happy.
Swept down to London with Pete yesterday to see Bob Mould, and had a really bloody marvellous time. Bob and his band ranged back and forth through the Bob Mould songbook, from Sugar material to his most recent album to early Husker Du material and back again. Bob played with vigour and energy and big smile on his face.
Initially, Pete and I were cut off from the mosh by a little wall of people who just refused to dance. It was like a barrier of uncoolness. I kept thinking that it would melt - in the end we hitched the coattails of someone less introverted than we, and rode through to where the action was. It was right and good and loud and fantastic.
smellygit said There are many things I'd call you, but introverted isn't one of them!
[added 7th Sep 2005] me here [e] said What was the set list, do you recall?
[added 27th Sep 2005] I don't recall in any detail :)
Happily though, someone else does [added 28th Sep 2005]
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#Dogger may not be cured
Just found a lump the size of a chickpea on the back of his head. Bollocks.
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