XSL -- First Step in Learning XML

by Benoît Marchal

The Value of XSL

This is an excerpt from the September 2000 issue of Pineapplesoft Link. To subscribe free visit marchal.com.

Where do you start learning XML? Increasingly my answer is with XSL. XSL is a very powerful tool with many applications. Many XML applications depend on it. Let's take two examples.

XSL and Web Publishing

As a webmaster you would benefit from using XSL.

Let's suppose that you decide to support smartphones. You will need to redo your web site using WML, the wireless markup language, instead of HTML. While learning WML is easy, it can take days if not months to redo a large web site. Imagine having to edit every single page by hand!

In contrast with XSL, it suffices to update one style sheet the changes flow across the entire web site.

XSL and Programming

The second facet of XSL is the scripting language. XSL has many features of scripting languages including loops, function calls, variables and more.

In that respect, XSL is a valuable addition to any programmer toolbox. Indeed, as XML popularity keeps growing, you will find that you need to manipulate XML documents frequently and XSL is the language for so doing.

Conclusion

If you're serious about learning XML, learn XSL. XSL is a tool to manipulate XML documents for web publishing or programming.