Re: [xml-dev] The limitations of XPath and navigation- A XPath/XQuery Challenge

On Feb 11, 2008 12:43 PM, John Snelson <> wrote:
> I agree. Like Michael, I'm an XQuery implementer and like to think I
> have a reasonable understanding of the technology space, but I'm also
> having a hard time following the opaque terminology you use.
>
> You clearly feel that you have an important message for the XML / XQuery
> community, and I'm willing to put some effort into understanding what
> you're trying to say. What I need is a clear explanation or terms like
> "LCA", "non-linear", "multi-leg" etc. I could so with some examples
> written in XML to illustrate them, and an example of a problem that
> demonstrates the advantages of your query techniques.
>
> I'm not dismissing what you have to say, but I don't exactly get users
> come up to me every day asking when they're going to be able to join two
> non-linear multi-leg structures in XQuery. What's the value proposition
> for XQuery users?

well said John,

I have to admit being baffled by some of the terms in this discussion
.... though it smells like a 'perma thread' (sql is better then
[xml|xpath|xquery|xslt]

I reread things just to make sure I wasn't going mad;

I think that we will find once we have a reference example that the
problem will boil down to 'can XPATH do it in 1 pass or 1+n steps'
versus sql can do it in 1 step.

my 2p,

cheers, Jim Fuller