Re: Comments on XPP draft o2 24 January 2013

C. M. Sperberg-McQueen writes:

> What is it in the XProc spec that depends upon the distinction
> between reading and processing?

Nothing, you're quite right.  I only used it because it appears in the
XML spec. in the relevant place.

> If (as I believe, without wanting to re-check the spec to be sure)
> the answer is "nothing", then it would seem to me that the note you
> suggest is already out of proportion, and a simpler approach would
> be to say "process" instead of "read and process", thus avoiding the
> question we started with (which was, for the nth time of asking
> [I've lost count] "what do you mean by the terms 'reading' and
> 'processing'?")

Happy to take that suggestion.  Now changed in Editors' draft.

> The note you suggest doesn't seem to me to work very well, since it
> suggests that the reader who follows the link will find a discussion
> in the XML spec of how processors can read without processing, or
> process without reading, external declarations.  I for one don't see
> any such discussion there -- I see only a paragraph which seems to
> rely on some such distinction without defining or explaining it.

With another hat on, I should say that if you have any suggestions as
to how the XML spec. might be improved in this area, please let the
Core WG know, as we may eventually do a (so far entirely editorial)
6th edition.

>   - 3 [uses of 'read[ing]'] relate to processors which MUST both
>   read and process all external declarations

The other two are in the definition of the external declarations and
full profiles, and are accompanied by a cross-reference to the
paragraph in the XML spec. which discusses reading and processing
parameter entities and includes a definition of processing [1].  Are
you OK with those two?

> The absence of any passage in XPP where a possible distinction
> between "reading" and "processing" external declarations makes a
> difference also suggests (alas) that XPP provides no way to describe
> the fairly common class of non-validating DTD-aware processors,
> which process external entity declarations and read other external
> declarations but do not use (or process) them.

I'm now confused by what _you_ mean by 'process'.  The paragraph in
the XML spec. which is relevant is, I believe, [1].  I read that
paragraph as saying that what in my experience is the common class of
processors (including both RXP and Saxon in their default
configuration) do is read _and_ process all external declarations, as
defined in [1].  Can you clarify?  Our specific goal in XPP in the
external declarations profile was precisely to give a name to this
class.

ht

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#dt-use-mdecl
-- 
       Henry S. Thompson, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
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Received on Wednesday, 30 October 2013 10:40:47 UTC