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What XSLT could or couldn't do was already discussed back in 1999 [1]. XSLT was then proven Turing-complete in 2001 [2]. As recently as 2008 (ahem), I implemen

What XSLT could or couldn't do was already discussed back in 1999 [1]. XSLT was then proven Turing-complete in 2001 [2]. As recently as 2008 (ahem), I implemented a website transforming XML into HTML/DOM using xsl-stylesheet instructions and it worked pretty well on IE6 and FF back then. But XSLT's Turing-completeness, for me, kind of spelled the death for in-browser XSLT, as XSLT was becoming pointless when you already have JavaScript in the stack. I don't even know if xsl-stylesheet still works in browsers (supposedly not when using HTML5). But XPath in the browser certainly isn't dead ([3]). [1]: http://www.biglist.com/lists/lists.mulberrytech.com/xsl-list/archives/199906/msg00270.html http://www.biglist.com/lists/lists.mulberrytech.com/xsl-list... [2]: http://www.unidex.com/turing/utm.htm http://www.unidex.com/turing/utm.htm [3]: http://www.xmlprague.cz/day2-2017/ http://www.xmlprague.cz/day2-2017/

johnchristopher 10y ago
> As recently as 2008 (ahem), I implemented a website transforming XML into HTML/DOM using xsl-stylesheet instructions and it worked pretty well on IE6 and FF back then. Oh ! Me too ! It was based on ATOM and PHP to recreate the files when content was updated.
- jacobush 10y ago
  I did it in 2010, in C. Must have been insane.
  - marktangotango 10y ago
    As some one who has modernized these apps: screw you guys. That stuff is dying and deserves to die. Yeah, good developers can do elegant things wit it, but for the remaining 90%, well they create layered spaghetti: xsl, html, JavaScript, and that's just the front end. Back end is xml and xsl pipelines with Java/c# intermixed. I've seen business logic in all these layers, in the same api call. It is truly astounding.
    - nikdaheratik 10y ago
      This is the double edged sword with XSL as it has enough that it can do that it's hard to tell what you should do at that layer. When it's useful though, it's very useful.
deleted 10y ago
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agumonkey 10y ago
I was very intrigued by XSLT around 2006 but the syntax pained me, and it happend just as I got into a personal lisp mania so I dropped it. I should try it again, after all map, treemap, treereduce is good for your soul.

johnchristopher 10y ago

> As recently as 2008 (ahem), I implemented a website transforming XML into HTML/DOM using xsl-stylesheet instructions and it worked pretty well on IE6 and FF back then. Oh ! Me too ! It was based on ATOM and PHP to recreate the files when content was updated.

jacobush 10y ago
I did it in 2010, in C. Must have been insane.
- marktangotango 10y ago
  As some one who has modernized these apps: screw you guys. That stuff is dying and deserves to die. Yeah, good developers can do elegant things wit it, but for the remaining 90%, well they create layered spaghetti: xsl, html, JavaScript, and that's just the front end. Back end is xml and xsl pipelines with Java/c# intermixed. I've seen business logic in all these layers, in the same api call. It is truly astounding.
  - nikdaheratik 10y ago
    This is the double edged sword with XSL as it has enough that it can do that it's hard to tell what you should do at that layer. When it's useful though, it's very useful.

deleted 10y ago

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agumonkey 10y ago

I was very intrigued by XSLT around 2006 but the syntax pained me, and it happend just as I got into a personal lisp mania so I dropped it. I should try it again, after all map, treemap, treereduce is good for your soul.