Re: Use of & > and < in XML based language is confusing

Elliotte, 

Thanks very much for your comment on the DIWG's Content Selection for Device Independence Last Call and concerning the syntax of expressions. Your comment has been logged under the id Harold-2.

While DIWG agrees that the syntax of XPath expressions used within XML documents is less than elegant, it is mandated by the XPath specification. Where XPath is used within an XML document, such as XSLT or DISelect, escaping is mandated. There is a note to this effect in the discussion of Booleans in the XPath specification (see http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath#booleans).

XPath is already widely used within W3C specifications and creation of an entirely new syntax just for DISelect would be inappropriate. DISelect is also intended for use with other specifications, such as XForms, which also use XPath expressions. In such mixed environments, consistency is a key factor.

DIWG has decided to retain the use of XPath and hence the need for escaping.

Best wishes

Rhys Lewis, chair DIWG

Received on Friday, 20 May 2005 09:13:19 UTC