[whatwg] Naming of "Self-closing start tag state"

On Thu, 21 May 2009, Geoffrey Sneddon wrote:
>
> I think this is a bit of a misnomer, as the current token can be an end 
> tag token (although it will throw a parse error whatever happens once it 
> reaches this state). I suggest renaming it to "self-closing tag state".

I started doing this, but then I stopped because while the whole name of 
the state is wrong, changing it at this point would just confuse people 
who have implementations, and that doesn't seem worth it.

If you need to justify to yourself why the "Self-closing start tag state" 
can be reached for end tags, just consider that that is why it's a parse 
error -- it's obviously wrong syntax if it mixes start tag and end tag 
syntax. If you need to justify to yourself why the state is called "self- 
closing" when the syntax in fact has no effect whatsoever, least of all 
actually closing anything, then you haven't got enough problems, and I 
recommend volunteering for some community service or something.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 14:53:08 UTC