XQuery as a general data processing language WAS: [xquery-talk]XQuery and Web 2.0

[Daniela Florescu]

On Apr 25, 2008, at 3:37 PM, Michael Kay wrote:

>> Anyway, XQuery was designed to 'work' on the XQuery/XPath
>> data model and I don't believe anywhere anytime soon your
>> 'typical' developer/architect/ designer will choose XDM as
>> its main representation of information to implement
>> (transactional business) logic upon.
>
> You may be right, but it's a shame, because XML is often a much  
> better way
> of representing business information than the two main alternatives,  
> Java and relational tables


It would definitely be a shame if it would be true, but I don't think  
it will be.

Maybe it will take some time until XQuery becomes mainstream for
application logic developers as a voluntary choice (if ever).

But they might use it simply without realizing. There is a flurry of  
startups
  that allow business development people to use Excel SpreadsSheets
style interfaces to generate business logic in a declarative fashion.
For anyone who used spreasheets for their daily business, I hope you  
will
agree with me: that's very powerful stuff.

And no surprise, those solutions use XML as the ONLY representation
for the business objects, and XQuery/variantofit is generated  
automatically.

XML solves in this context a HUGE problem in application development,  
which is the
need for customization. XML and XQuery, being divorced from XML Schema  
(they can live together
but it is not mandatory), are a much better solution for the  
customization problem that anything else
I know.


Best regards
Dana