http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=175662


in reply to Complex Data Structures

Lately, I've been dealing with large, complex data structures using XML. Mostly I'm trying to teach myself the mysteries of XML and XSLT and determine which of the various XML-related Perl modules I like the best ;) And because most of my programming provides a back-end for dynamic web pages, the XML/XSLT combination has proven ideal.

One of my current projects involves a monstrous database of authors and books including with just about any information relating to them I can imagine. I'm pulling the data from several different tables and smashing it together into a single XML structure that can be relatively easily made into a web page using XSLT. For me, using XPath to pull out pieces of the data structure to manipulate feels more intuitive than a complex set of hashes and/or references.

-rattus