Re: [xsl] Selecting Maximum Values

[David Carlisle <davidc at nag dot co dot uk>]

> I was wondering if there was a simplier way, or is this the way to do
> it.

well it's easier to do an xsl:if than an xsl:choose with no otherwise,
but that's probbaly an artifact of you simplifying the code for posting.

but for finding the maximum it's a question of simpler for who,
you or your machine.
sorting and taking the end point is probably the shortest (if you don't
have a "maximum" template to hand, but sorting requirestime somewhere
around order n(log n ) for a list of n elements, whereas finding the
maximum only really requires looking at each element once, so order n.
if n is 10 it doesn't matter much but if n is 1000 then this starts to
make a difference.
You can make a named template that takes  parameters the list-remaining
and maximum-so-far and just walks down the list remembering the maximum.
Also if portability doesn't matter much many systems will offer you a
maximum function as an extension.

exslt.org has templates (using both templates and extension fumctions)
in its math section.
David



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