XSLT 2.0 Programmer s Reference, Third Edition

Michael Kay

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ISBN: 0-764-56909-0

Printed in the United States of America

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To the Peacemakers

Acknowledgments

Firstly, I'd like to acknowledge the work of the W3C XSL Working Group, who created the XSLT language, as well as many other experts inside and outside W3C who provided ideas and feedback. As the editor of the XSLT 2.0 specification I have to take responsibility not only for the imperfections in this book but also for some of the defects in the design of the language it describes; but the credit goes to the team as a whole, and particularly to James Clark, who created the solid technical foundation on which version 2.0 has been built.

I would like to thank the many readers of previous editions of this book who have provided feedback, criticism, and encouragement. Without the knowledge that the book has been so widely appreciated, I would not have embarked on the daunting task of producing a new edition. Please keep the feedback coming, whether positive or negative.

The bulk of this book was written while I was an employee of Software AG. I'd like to thank the company for allowing me to take this project on.

I must thank Wiley, who rescued this project when the old Wrox Press collapsed , and whose editor has applied a delicate touch both to reminding me of imminent deadlines and to correcting my prose .

And once again, I have to thank Penny and Pippa, who have sustained me through another winter in which I rarely left my desk.

About the Author

Michael Kay has been working in the XML field since 1997; he became a member of the XSL Working Group soon after the publication of XSLT 1.0, and took over as editor of the XSLT 2.0 specification in early 2001. He is also a member of the XQuery Working Group. He is well known not only through previous editions of this book, but also as the developer of the open -source Saxon product, a pioneering implementation of XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0, and XQuery 1.0.

The author has recently formed his own company, Saxonica Limited, to provide commercial software and services building on the success of the Saxon technology. Previously he spent three years with Software AG, working with the developers of the Tamino XML server, a leading XQuery implementation. His background is in database technology: after leaving the University of Cambridge with a Ph.D., he worked for many years with the (then) computer manufacturer ICL, developing network, relational, and object-oriented database software products as well as a text search engine, and held the position of ICL Fellow.

Michael lives in Reading, England, with his wife and daughter . His hobbies, as you might guess from this book, include genealogy and choral singing (and once included chess). He has a croquet handicap of 9.