I think Xquery is simpler then xslt by any measure...<snip/>
...XSLT is
lightweight fun, airy and light....though I wouldn't want to
apply it to anything but content related tasks currently; by
comparison Xquery is an industrial strength solution to many
*hard* data problems.
I don't quite understand how you come to these conclusions.
XQuery 1.0 is a simpler language than XSLT 2.0, without doubt. Its
functionality is roughly equal to XSLT 1.0 minus xsl:apply-templates,
plus xsl:function. This isn't meant as a criticism. But I find it
difficult to see why you think it is capable of tackling harder problems
than you would tackle with XSLT.
Michael Kay
XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list