> Dimitre,
> 
> I'm not disagreeing with your position. I have had some fundamental
> objections to the introduction of data-typing within XSLT almost from

> the moment that it first appeared in the specifications. I've worked 
> with XSLT often enough to state that the number of times I can point 
> to where static typing would have come in handy can be counted on one

> hand, and usually there was some work-around there. I see the type 
> mechanisms as a big step backwards, but one that is unfortunately 
> driven by a few vendors (principally Microsoft) who are convinced 
> that dynamic typing is bad and dangerous. I can think of a few cases 
> where I would agree, but many more where dynamic typing is far 
> preferable to dealing with static type.
> 
> As to the function mapping, I'm a little more ambivalent. The example

> I gave there was pedagogical in nature, meant to illustrate the 
> principle. I do believe, however, that the principle advantage that 
> there are two principle advantages of the <xsl:function> element:
> 
> 1) It makes it easier to develop a consistent set of libraries that 
> can be utilized repeatedly. You may end up using this function only 
> once in a given stylesheet, but if you use the same function imported

> into multiple stylesheets then you've significantly reduced your 
> overhead.
> 
> 2) It makes it possible to create class-like architectures within
well
> defined namespaces, a definite plus as I see it in creating a 
> comprehensive framework for development. For instance, you can define

> a matrix namespace:

[Nice examples skipped]

Kurt,

We agree on everything said. My comments were addressing the specific
example, I am fully aware of the benefits of xsl:function and grouping
related functions into modules.






=====
Cheers,

Dimitre Novatchev.
http://fxsl.sourceforge.net/ -- the home of FXSL

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