> - OK, I'll bite... why do transactions "by definition" 
> require side effects?

Because when I order a book from Amazon, I like something to arrive in
the post the next day, and in the arcane language of functional
programming, the arrival of the book is considered to be a side-effect.

But my answer to that is, as I said recently on another thread: use XSLT
to do your XML transformations, don't use it to make the tea or wash the
dishes.

Michael Kay
Software AG
home: Michael.H.Kay@xxxxxxxxxxxx
work: Michael.Kay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 


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