[Bug 5462] Can sml:nilref="true" be specified on a non-SML reference?

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=5462





------- Comment #5 from johnarwe@us.ibm.com  2008-02-13 23:29 -------
Packaging this as a separate comment so it can be accepted/rejected separately
of the preceding.

This text seems odd, like it is defining what something is by saying it is not
its inverse.  "A null SML ref" sounds to me like it is a sub-class of all SML
refs (confirmed by 4.1.1/4.1.2 SML editor's draft), yet the text appears to
deny that when it says "the" SML ref does not exist.

An null SML reference is an explicit declaration of intent by the document
author that the SML reference itself does not exist,

I wonder if the following is clearer, especially since the rest of the text
covers the corner cases now.  
from: that the               SML reference itself does not exist
to  : that the target of the SML reference        does not exist

The following text includes the earlier changes in comments 3 and 4.  For 3, I
chose consumer since that is defined; last I looked we had no definition of a
processor, and I see no value yet in adding one.

4.2.5 Null SML References

A null SML reference is an explicit declaration of intent by the document
author that the target of the SML reference does not exist, and a processing
directive
(not a hint) to consumers not to attempt to recognize any reference schemes in
it. If an SML reference is recognized as null, then processors MUST NOT attempt
to resolve it.

Received on Wednesday, 13 February 2008 23:29:31 UTC