RE: [regrep] XQuery Support

["CHIUSANO, Joseph" <JCHIUSANO@lmi.org>]

Title: RE: [regrep] XQuery Support

<Snippet>
In particular there is
some debate about whether to support an XML only syntax or support a
second declarative non-XML syntax. DOes any one have more recent
information on this?
</Snippet>

Farrukh, I take it you are referring to a raging debate that took place last month on the XML-DEV list (or you heard it elsewhere) - the following is an excerpt from that debate (1/3/02):

<Excerpt>
To be consistent with XSLT, XQuery would have to be a truly XML-based
syntax, as XSLT is. XQuery is not. Many of our users prefer that XQuery not
be an XML syntax. Those who ask for an XML syntax for users tend to be very
heavy users of XSLT, who are quite used to this approach.
</Excerpt>

Unless something big has happened since then, it appears that they are still supporting only the non-XML syntax.

Regards,
Joe

> **************************************************************************
>   Joseph M. Chiusano
>   Logistics Management Institute
>   2000 Corporate Ridge
>   McLean, VA 22102
>   Email: jchiusano@lmi.org
>   Tel: 571.633.7722
> **************************************************************************
>

-----Original Message-----
From: Farrukh Najmi [mailto:Farrukh.Najmi@Sun.COM]
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2002 5:28 PM
To: CHIUSANO, Joseph
Cc: 'regrep@lists.oasis-open.org'
Subject: Re: [regrep] XQuery Support

Joe,

Thanks for the brief and relevant summary of the state of XQuery today.

I think XQuery holds much promise to establish itself as a dominant
query standard in the future. We have resisted the temptation to support
XQuery in the past based on the concerns that XQuery is still evolving
(a concern you included).

Based on my most recent information, I believe that there is still
changes occurring in the query syntax for XQuery. In particular there is
some debate about whether to support an XML only syntax or support a
second declarative non-XML syntax. DOes any one have more recent
information on this?

My personal feeling is that our specs are providing very strong support
in the query area. If we were to prioritize on where to spend our
resources for V3, my humble suggestion would be to not do XQuery for V3.
This would allow XQuery to mature when we are ready to tackle it in V4.

Please view my opinion as a phasing / priority issue rather than a
negative opinion on XQuery.

--
Regards,
Farrukh

"CHIUSANO, Joseph" wrote:

>
>
> Registry TC,
>
> During our round of V3 brainstorming, I suggested XQuery support as a
> V3 item.  I cannot take credit for this as my idea, as there had been
> much discussion about it in the Query subteam during V2 efforts.
> However, I'd like to provide some information on XQuery for those who
> may not be familiar with it.
>
> I'm hoping that we can start debating on the advantages/disadvantages
> of introducing XQuery support into our architecture for V3.
>
> Respectfully Yours,
> Joe
>
> What is XQuery?
>
>    * XQuery is a functional query language in which a query is
>      represented as an expression
>    * It is based on OQL, SQL, XML-QL, and XPath
>    * Among XQuery's rich set of expressions is a "FLWR" expression -
>      "For, Let, Where, Return"
>    * XQuery is a strongly typed query language - it uses W3C XML
>      Schema simple types
>
>
> How about an example?
>
>    * The following query (taken from the W3C XQuery main site) lists
>      titles of books published by Morgan Kaufmann in 1998 - it uses 3
>      of the components of a FLWR expression:
>
>           FOR $b IN document("bib.xml")//book
>           WHERE $b/publisher = "Morgan Kaufmann"
>               AND $b/year = "1998"
>           RETURN $b/title
>
> What recommendation stage is XQuery currently at?
>
>    * As of 12/20/01, XQuery 1.0 became a W3C Working Draft
>
>
> What is the realationship between XQuery and the new XPath 2.0 Working
> Draft?
>
>    * From the XQuery 1.0 W3C site:
>
>
> The XPath 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 Working Drafts are generated from a
> common source. These languages are closely related, sharing much of
> the same expression syntax and semantics, and much of the text found
> in the two Working Drafts is identical.
>
>    * XPath 2.0 also became a W3C Working Draft on 12/20/01
>
>
> Things for us to consider:
>
>    * The XQuery specification does not yet include updates, but they
>      are planned in the future
>    * The XQuery 1.0 specification is still in the Working Draft
>      stages, which means that it is not yet a fully stable W3C
>      standard; this also *may* mean that few XML processors support it
>      (pure speculation)
>    * Use of XQuery may allow for simpler query functionality in the
>      XML Registry specification
>
>
> Pertinent Web sites:
>
> http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery/
> http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20/
>
>
> *************************************************************************
>
>   Joseph M. Chiusano
>   Logistics Management Institute
>   2000 Corporate Ridge
>   McLean, VA 22102
>   Email: jchiusano@lmi.org
>   Tel: 571.633.7722
>
> *************************************************************************
>
>