References for the study group [June 7, 2012, 9:34 a.m.]

Course References

Basic reference textbook

We are planning to use Jenni Tennison's "Beginning XSLT 2.0, From Novice to Professional" as a reference for the study group.

1.0 / 2.0 Note: For those of you that know 1.0 and want to learn 2.0 features, the book does NOT distinguish them in the text, but read the Introduction - 'How this book is structured'. Those brief chapter introductions specifically note what will be new for 1.0 folks to learn. Also, the reference at the back of the book - Appendix B: XSLT Quick Reference - says "From 1.0" or "From 2.0" at the bottom of each entry.

You will be able to find out everything you need without the book using resources on the web listed below. But the book provides a guide for the order in which we will cover material and a handy narrative from a well-respected practitioner.

Other recommended references (all freely available)

As we create learning tasks and challenges, I am hoping that folks will look through some of these references and point others to things that are relevant and useful.

Mike Kay's book, XSLT-2-0-Programmers-Reference-Programmer covers much the same ground, but it aimed at the professional programmer.
For even deeper details, XSLT-XPath-Edge-Professional-Mindware
W3School : http://www.w3schools.com/xsl/ -- This has an online XSLT editor that shows results! Could be a handy place to find exercises or ideas for exercises. Might be a handy tool to add to the tools page.
David Pawson's XSLT FAQ <http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/> : This FAQ has a list of links about different XSL operations and topics. (KEF: I think it is all XSLT 1.0, but not sure.)
ZVON: http://zvon.org/xxl/XSLTutorial/Books/Book1/index.html

That tutorial is basically 71 little samples/examples showing uses of XSLT 1.0's more important features one at a time. ZVON has handy links covering all the (1.0) elements, functions, axes, and operators:

http://zvon.org/xxl/XSLTreference/Output/