Scope of XSLT in temlating

In templating design which one is better XSLT or PERL

Which is in more demand in marked?

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

In templating design which one is better XSLT or PERL

Which is in more demand in marked?

That's sort of like asking which is better - Perl or Java - the answer is "it depends"

Skipping the Perl/Java question (which has been thrashed through many times in the forums) - XSLT is a standard for processing XML files, as such it is what it is and more folks are likely to know about XSLT than they are about Perl-based PT files.

Having said that, the power and flexibility of Perl along with a bunch of support code that was written for its use in DCR processing within the TeamSite context - far outstrips TeamSite-specific XSLT code. There are a lot of "fancy" things that you can do fairly easily in Perl that you cannot do (easily, or at all?) in XSLT. If you need these kind of features then the choice is much easier to make (e.g.: determining if the file is being rendered in preview vs generate mode)

The other thing that sets the two languages apart (or XSLT vs almost any other programming language with which you may be familiar) is that XSLT does not provide the same concepts of procedures/functions and variables that other languages provide. Yes, there are variables in XSLT, but they don't work the same way that variables work in languages like Perl or Java.

So - neither is better, each one may be better in certain circumstances.
Both are used in the "market", Perl (unfortunately, IMO) gets the short-end of the stick too often because too few people coming out of schools these days are taught it - whereas XML and XSLT are more readily "known" - though I don't think there are that many proficient XSLT programmers out there either (I can do stuff in XSLT, but I don't think I would consider myself nearly as proficient in XSLT as I am in Perl)

If you're trying to improve your skill set to make you more marketable for getting a job - I recommend learning both - and java, and CSS. If you're trying to become a jack-of-all-trades you can then also work on things like ruby, python, C#, .Net, C++, etc. but I think Java, Perl, CSS, and XSLT are probably more marketable - though I am somewhat biased, so use the proverbial grain of salt with regard to the above advice.

nipper

There is no right answer.

My opinion is that XSLT is more common and more of a standard. However TPL is easier (esp for complex templates). I have done some quite complex TPLs in my lifetime and some of that functionality would have required significant development in Java to accompany the XSL.

I still have customers wanting me to do TPL development rather than XSL.

explorer

Thanks Ghoti and Nipper.