Re: XPath support for using multiple ixml implementations

Wendell Piez <wapiez@wendellpiez.com> writes:
> - A conformant processor must offer a mode to stop and report ambiguities instead of handling them

I don’t like it. Supporting ambiguity is a defining feature of iXML that makes it easier to use than other grammars (and better to the extent that easier to use makes something better).

> Maybe the mandated 'no ambiguities' mode would only have to report, not stop. But making it stop might be better.

Report but don’t stop is the status quo. The output tells you if it is one of a set of ambiguous results.

> If the spec is murkier, I would foresee a need for external tools to test for ambiguity. Is that formally possible?

Yes. NineML ships with a formal ambiguity analyzer:

  https://www.brics.dk/grammar/

It will tell you where either of two flavors of ambiguity (horizontal or vertical) occur in your grammar.

                                        Be seeing you,
                                          norm

--
Norm Tovey-Walsh
Saxonica

Received on Tuesday, 3 March 2026 15:47:18 UTC