Re: some topics we haven't yet discussed

At 07:51 AM 24/9/96 +0100, W. Eliot Kimber wrote:

>>* Should XML change the delimiter-in-context rules to require the STAGO
>>and ERO strings to be escaped whenever they are not to be recognized as
>>delimiters (9.6)?
>
>This seems like a good idea.  It is easy to use short references to define
>escape sequences for these, e.g.:  "~<", "~&", "~~" where "~" is the
>"escape" character (but is really just the first character of a
>two-character short reference delimiter).  I think a shortref approach is
>better than MSO, for the reasons given below.  This doesn't break SGML,
>only requires quoting where it might not otherwise be required (but where
>people usually do it anyway). 
>
>>* Should XML use MSOCHAR, MSSCHAR, and MSICHAR strings (9.7)?
>
>No--escaping is easier and safer using shortrefs.

I can't see any difference between defining ~ as a MSSCHAR and defining it
as an Escape character (given that we have no short references to decode the
strings shown above, and will therefore rely on application conventions to
define the escape mechanism). Incidentally, I prefer the tilde to any other
escape character.



>>* Should XML restrict comment declarations to a single comment (10.3)?
>
>Or should we pretend that comment open is "<!--" and comment close is "-->"? 

Yes please

>
>While SGML *should* have different delimiter roles for comment open and
>comment close (and probably will after the revision), it doesn't today and
>this is an area where anticipating the standard would make XML documents
>incompatible with existing SGML processors.  Thus, we *can't* do something
>like make "/*" COMO and "*/" COMC, because those delimiter roles don't
>exist in SGML.
>
>Cheers,
>
>E.
>--
>W. Eliot Kimber (kimber@passage.com) 
>Senior SGML Consultant and HyTime Specialist
>Passage Systems, Inc., (512)339-1400
>10596 N. Tantau Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014-3535 (408) 366-0300, (408)
>366-0320 (fax)
>2608 Pinewood Terrace, Austin, TX 78757 (512) 339-1400 (fone/fax)
>http://www.passage.com (work) http://www.drmacro.com (home)
>"If I never had existed, would you still remember me?..."
>                                   --Austin Lounge Lizards, "1984 Blues"
>
>
>
----
Martin Bryan, The SGML Centre, Churchdown, Glos. GL3 2PU, UK 
Phone/Fax: +44 1452 714029   WWW home page: http://www.u-net.com/~sgml/

Received on Tuesday, 24 September 1996 04:24:22 UTC