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 :)