On Thu, 9 Mar 2000 16:25:17 -0500, you wrote:

>There is probably a sub-set of XML where the transformations should be
>provable. Any experts on graph theory on the list? Doing this kind of work
>is outside my abilities but I'd love to read a paper on this.
>
>I also think this would be of value in the ecommerce world. You wouldn't
>want a server-side transformation to accidentally charge your credit card
>twice for a book.

This is just a specific instance of a more general problem: proving
the correctness of computer programs. This is an area of active
research (do a web search on "formal methods"), but it is hard work
and there are as yet no magic bullets. The principal difficulty is
that in order to prove that a given computer program is correct, you
have to provide a precise mathematical description of exactly what it
is that the program is supposed to do. And that turns out to be
_really_ hard to do in any but the most trivial of cases.

-Steve Schafer


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