> <xsl:with-param name="inputPipe" select="/*"/>
> what does that slash mean, and how is it different from just select="/"?

/ is the root of the document (like on a unix filesystem, or like c:\ on
windoze)

so /* selects all the elements that are immediately below the root.
In a well formed document there is exactly one of these.

 / selects the root node itself, this corresponds to the whole document
rather than any element or attribute within it.

> Similarly, you frequently select "/.."  It seems that should be the same as
> either ".." or "."  If not, could you please explain what it means?

No . and .. select the current node and its parent (whatever the current
node is)

/.. selects the parent of the root node, this never exists so always
selects nothing. (This is useful often as a default value as it produces
a node set (so you don't get an error if you use node set functions)

David

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