Fwd: Historical trivia: who introduced into XSLT 1.0 the construct that enables XSLT to generate XSLT (i.e., XSLT's "code generation" capability)?

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Dimitre Novatchev <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: [xml-dev] Historical trivia: who introduced into XSLT 1.0 the
construct that enables XSLT to generate XSLT (i.e., XSLT's "code
generation" capability)?
To: Roger L Costello <[email protected]>


> The xsl:namespace-alias element is the construct that enables an XSLT
program to generate an
> XSLT program (i.e., it is the thing that gives XSLT its "code generation"
capability).

Not true.

The following transformation generates an XSLT stylesheet, and this code
doesn't contain any <xsl:namespace-alias> directives:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="
http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
 <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:element name="xsl:stylesheet">
      <xsl:attribute name="version">1.0</xsl:attribute>
    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Thanks,
Dimitre


On Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 11:34 AM Roger L Costello <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> The xsl:namespace-alias element is the construct that enables an XSLT
> program to generate an XSLT program (i.e., it is the thing that gives XSLT
> its "code generation" capability).
>
> Who introduced that construct into the XSLT 1.0 specification?
>
> Was it Rick Jelliffe?
>
> I believe Rick was the first person to utilize the construct in a major
> way. He used it in Schematron.
>
> But no, it wasn't Rick.
>
> So who was it?
>
> Scroll down to see the answer ......
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Rick told me the answer:
>
> "James Clark put the alternative namespace into XSLT 1.0 specifically to
> allow XSLTs to generate XSLTs; he knew about this from DSSSL or Scheme"
>
> /Roger
>
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-- 
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev
---------------------------------------
Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.
---------------------------------------
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk
-------------------------------------
Never fight an inanimate object
-------------------------------------
To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the
biggest mistake of all
------------------------------------
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
-------------------------------------
You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what
you're doing is work or play
-------------------------------------
To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep.
-------------------------------------
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
-------------------------------------
Typing monkeys will write all Shakespeare's works in 200yrs.Will they write
all patents, too? :)
-------------------------------------
Sanity is madness put to good use.
-------------------------------------
I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it.



-- 
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev
---------------------------------------
Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.
---------------------------------------
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk
-------------------------------------
Never fight an inanimate object
-------------------------------------
To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the
biggest mistake of all
------------------------------------
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
-------------------------------------
You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what
you're doing is work or play
-------------------------------------
To achieve the impossible dream, try going to sleep.
-------------------------------------
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
-------------------------------------
Typing monkeys will write all Shakespeare's works in 200yrs.Will they write
all patents, too? :)
-------------------------------------
Sanity is madness put to good use.
-------------------------------------
I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it.