Difference between * and node() in XSLT

Question

What\'s the difference between these two templates?

Answer 1

is an abbreviation for:

This matches any node type that can be selected via the child:: axis:

• element

• text-node

• processing-instruction (PI) node

• comment node.

On the other side:

is an abbreviation for:

This matches any element.

The XPath expression: someAxis::* matches any node of the primary node-type for the given axis.

For the child:: axis the primary node-type is element.