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Re: Re: Re: XSLT Architecture: Next Step

2003-07-04 11:48:31


Of course there should be a difference between FXSLT (based on XSLT
definition, though interpreted as well) than using the same extension,
for instance, from Saxon, where the function is developed in a
language like java. I can think of performance issues difference, for
instance, but I cannot guess the result. Also, portability is another
issue, which I think FXSLT should be in advantage.

What you say is true but I'm not sure what point you are trying to make.

You could write all your programs in assembler if you want optimum
performance. FXSLT is a demonstration of functional programming paradigm
in XSLT, the fact that you can do some things in a functional style that
you could also do in C or java is hardly news, nor is the fact that C is
likely to be quicker than java which is likely to be quicker than the
functional style. The benefits of functional programming are many, but
outright speed against optimised c code has never been claimed as one of
them.

David is 100% right and has politely stopped at this point. I will pick up
the topic and go further.

I have seen Java, Python, C# and even C solutions to the same problem, which
run significantly slower than the XSLT solution.

Even an Assembler implementaion of a O(N^2) algorithm will soon (with N
increasing) become slower than an XSLT implementation of an O(N) algorithm,
solving the same problem.


The moral:
           Even if someone is programming in C or Assembler they might
produce less efficient solutions than an XSLT one.

           There is no automatic guarantee of implementation superiority
based only on the type of the chosen programming language.

           There is no substitute for thinking.


Shall we even start discussing other important features of software -- e.g.
understandability, portability and maintainability?

If someone doesn't see why people do not write in Assembler, nobody is
forcing this someone to program in anything else but Assembler.



=====
Cheers,

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





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