[tmql-wg] ANNOUNCE: AsTMa? Language Specification 0.3

[Robert Barta]

Hi all,

In case you are interested in query languages for TMs, I have
completed a more serious iteration to specify AsTMa?, our proposal for
a query and TM transformation language.

   http://astma.it.bond.edu.au/astma%3F-spec.dbk

[ printable version, look for the printer symbol ]

   http://astma.it.bond.edu.au/astma%3F-spec.dbk?style=printable

It's a dry read, I promise to add some tutorial stuff and use cases
once we are more stable with the language. In short the "highlights":

	- can produce string content (nice for simple retrieval), XML
	  content (nice for XML application servers) and Topic Map
	  content (nice for cascading processing or for serious TM
	  developers)
	- typed language
	- supports tau-expression (manipulations of maps, ontologies and queries)
	- recursive functions
	- loops and conditional statements
	- exception handling for robust content generation
	- supports various TM notations (XTM), but others (LTM, ...) 
          could be added
	- supports multiple path expression languages (XPath is standard,
	  but others can be added)
	- has included a suggestion for AsTMaPath, a navigation language
	- has rudimentary support for 3rd party packages
	- some alignment with XQuery

We here will take this as baseline for developing our prototype. Any
feedback (especially from app developers) is appreciated.

\rho