Hi Patrick -- > I like the idea of XSLT/XML, though I find myself trying to > read between > the lines of hype vs. something that's actually very useful. > I don't know, > so I don't have any opinions. I do know I'd like to use > XSLT/XML so as to > have a project to use it for, hence learn it.
It's mostly hype in my experience. And not even very useful hype, like Java or PHP, which are actually real things which people might want to use. XSLT seems to be XML geeks' answer to CSS+templating. As if CSS wasn't very successful, as if the world needed another templating system, XSLT seems to have been invented to take the creative work of designing web sites out of the hands of HTML designers, and put it in the hands of XPath programmers. You know. Programmers who are really good at both creative design and communicating with human beings. Not. Alright, pretty smarmy. But unless you just happen to have thousands of XML documents sitting around on your hard drive, XSLT is a solution in search of a problem. Most of my data is in a RDBMS -- not XML. To enhance the *need* for XSLT, some databases will now return XML. That's an interesting idea. Instead of using a mature language like Perl|Java|PHP, let's use something like XSLT to turn my data into a web page! It's new, shiny, and will solve the problem of TOO MANY people knowing the other aforementioned languages. D'oh! Too cynical? Maybe. The fact that XSLT is still discussed in serious company just bugs me. ;-) > Not just that, but what about SOAP... Net RPC... I'd like to > know where > those fit in as well. Fantastic, useful stuff. > I get so tired of Java types talking about how "perl is just > a scripting > language.. it's not an application platform/server like > Dynamo/WebSpere/<insert $$$ java non-OS app here>". I even > tried to crack > a particular Orielly java book and was turned off on a statement like > "Perl is good for proto-typing but not a full application > server". Yes, > there are a lot of prototypes getting millions of pageviews a day and > generating signicifican revenue. You hit the nail on the head there: "Prototype" in Perl, and then just keep using it! A strategy for the NEW "New Economy". TTYL, -Jesse- -- Jesse Erlbaum The Erlbaum Group [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 212-684-6161 Fax: 212-684-6226
