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Re: need help with MAX and MIN functions (if they exist)

2003-07-21 10:58:12
That?s exactly it.  The rest of your answer re-iterates the power of HOF's
and the other many pro's of using FXSL, but I think
sometimes you miss the point of using exslt - its easy!

I just think when a new user ask's for min() and max() functions, it's
best to let them discover exslt before incurring the extra
learning curve of fxsl.

Hi Andrew,

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to dispel yet another myth
about FXSL -- when used by an end user in the "xsl:call-template mode" FXSL
is not more difficult than EXSLT.

For example, to obtain the maximum in the case when the nodes of the
node-set passed as parameter have numeric values, one just calls the
"maximum" template, e.g.:

      <xsl:call-template name="maximum">
        <xsl:with-param name="pList" select="/*/*"/>
      </xsl:call-template>

The same goes for many other templates likely to be needed by such an user.

I just think when a new user ask's for min() and max() functions, it's
best to let them discover exslt before incurring the extra
learning curve of fxsl.

It is also nice to let them know that many of these functions do not need to
be implemented as extensions. Encouraging a beginner to look for (and write
his own) extension functions in any case he finds difficult will often be a
bad service to this person.

Remember how often people start writing their extension functions to
implement a counter for a

        "for(i=1; i < 10; i++)" -type

iteration.


As for the usefulness of EXSLT, there isn't any disagreement between us. I
wouldn't have implemented the functions of its "sets" and "common" module if
I thought EXSLT was not useful.


=====
Cheers,

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






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