[Bug 2977] Handling of external function declarations

http://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=2977





------- Comment #2 from frans.englich@telia.com  2006-03-16 11:52 -------

I think what addressed my concerns was not the specification changes, but
comment #1, which said: "The working group believes that errors in external
functions should be raised when the function is called rather than when it is
declared".

I'm trying to understand that; why is it so? What is the purpose of letting the
following query compile?

        declare namespace e = "example.org/An ns which is not supported";
        declare function e:notSupported() external;
        1 eq 1


I like the idea in principle, because it disallows weird code. However, I have
understanding for if this area is considered too much of a corner case in order
to justify changing the spec. I'm primarily trying to understand the philosophy
behind "errors should be raised when the function is called rather than when it
is declared".

I would find it interesting to see an example of where an implementation see a
purpose in silently accepting an function declaration specifying an unsupported
external function.

Note, I'm only looking for clarification, so a personal response is fine. I'll
express my consent on resolution later on.


Regards,
Frans

Received on Thursday, 16 March 2006 11:52:32 UTC