At 08:35 AM 8/18/2005, David wrote:
> The first is selecting something using a variable and then applying
> templates to that variable, eg:
>
> <xsl:apply-templates select="$sections/section"/>
Why is this annoying? (I do it all the time:-) if the xpath to select
$sections is big and complicated and you need to query into it multiple
times then you either need to use a variable, or trust your system's
optimiser to implictly cache the result of the expression the first time
you use it.
Not only that, but it's a useful way to work around bugs in some widely
deployed engines, which can have a hard time with gnarly XPaths but do okay
when their constituent parts are bound to variables.
I agree that sometimes this can be overused and that tracking variable
declarations across miles of files is no fun, but I also agree with David
that it's a useful technique that can contribute to good code. A balance
must be struck. Documenting your code (with comments if necessary) can also
help the general problem of code opacity.
Cheers,
Wendell
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Wendell Piez
mailto:wapiez(_at_)mulberrytech(_dot_)com
Mulberry Technologies, Inc. http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street Direct Phone: 301/315-9635
Suite 207 Phone: 301/315-9631
Rockville, MD 20850 Fax: 301/315-8285
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