Kevin K Fosler wrote:
> OK, I am an XSLT newbie.  I am finding it hard to get up to speed with this 
> "language".  I know that I will get it over time, after all I've learned 
> traditional programming languages (COBOL, Fortran, VB, C#, and Java), plus, 
> probably more relevant, quirky languages such as SAS and Perl.
> 
> Right now I feel like I am learning very inefficiently.  I've been given 
> some _very_ complex XML and XSLT.  I use XMLSpy">XMLSpy to step through it so I can 
> see where the control is and the context nodes returned, but I still don't 
> have an idea of the order of control within an XSLT.
> 
> How did you learn, how would you recommend learning, is this really as 
> complex as it seems?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Kevin Fosler 
> 
> 

Kevin,

I'm new to XSLT as well, but I do know that *none* of the languages you 
have learned is relevant to XSLT. XSLT is a functional language, unlike 
all the others you mention, which are procedural languages. With a 
background in traditional languages, functional programming does take 
some getting used to. Languages like Scheme, Haskell, ML or Miranda 
would be more help.

There is no flow of control through an XSLT program, its just a bunch of 
declarations. There is a flow of control through the document being 
transformed however.

Maybe you need a book/tutorial that concentrates on the principles and 
theory of XSLT. I certainly feel I need that but haven't been able to 
find it. Just tutorials with a bunch of corny canned examples.

Apologies for any mistakes in this, I am a newbie too.

John