[Bug 2324] Value/General comparisons: type promotion for xs:anyURI/numeric

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=2324





------- Additional Comments From frans.englich@telia.com  2006-01-07 19:45 -------
      
Continuing the discussion of this editorial issue:      
      
 Report #2545 was resolved by explicitly mention treatment of xs:anyURI. Step 3     
and 4 in the function conversion rules(3.1.5 Function Calls) explicitly   
mention promotion rules for numeric types and xs:anyURI.     
    
Perhaps the fix for this report is to copy step 3 and 4 from the function    
conversion rules to the steps in 3.5.1 Value Comparisons(becoming step 5     
and 6). To me it looks like such a fix would be in the same style as how other  
similar cases are worded. I also believe it would solve this issue; clarify  
whether numeric/xs:anyURI promotion is invoked for value comparison.  
  
However, by principle I question this way of fixing errors, it feels like  
patching the spec in a spaghetti-code like way. From my impression there have 
been a number of reports/discussions concerning type handling/operand rules, 
and it wouldn't surprise me if the cause partly is that texts are halfly 
duplicated in many places. 
  
For example, from what I can tell it is effectively the function conversion  
rules that are invoked for value comparisons, with the only exception of how  
the parameter type is determined. Could that be expressed in some concise way,  
such that one could reuse the text function conversion rules? 
 
I think such things means a lot in terms of learnability("Oh, the func rules 
are kicked in here, I know already those"), implementing(it is a complex task 
to determine whether two sections means the same; modularization in the spec 
can affect modularization in implementation), and how daunting impression the 
spec gives. 
 
    
Cheers,    
Frans

Received on Saturday, 7 January 2006 19:45:33 UTC