Re: Trying to sum up a bit

At 01:54 PM 12/17/96 -0800, Tim Bray wrote:
>>Isn't significant whitespace the norm rather than the exception? Shouldn't
>>it be the default?
>
>A religious issue.  For web-heads, COLLAPSE is clearly the norm.  But
>there should be a default.

I like the idea of having some mechanism to declare defaulting behavior.
such a mechanism is redundant if the DTD is present, but it does make the
instance much easier to author.  On the other hand, it might lead to
confusion if the mechanism is too complicated.

>>> 4.3a1. the XML processor does what -XML-SPACE says...
>>> 4.3a2. the XML processor does what -XML-SPACE says *and* passes it on ...
>>> 4.3a3. the XML processor merely passes -XML-SPACE along to the application..
>
>>Why not just let the parser do it, if it knows what needs to be done?
>
>1. Most apps do it anyhow.  2. Less is more.  3. If you leave stuff in, the 
>application can always take it out.  But if you take it out, the app
>can never recreate the knowledge of where it was. - Tim

But there can be a difference between what the XML spec says is significant
and what a parser hands to the application.  Witness SP.  I do not think we
need declare what the parser returns, this is should not be an API
discussion group.  We sould declare what is _signicant_.  If a parser does
not pass along insignificant data when the application desires it, that is a
problem with the parser, and the application should use a different parser.
The point of theis discussion is to say that the whitespace is not
significant.. thus the application should only get it if it needs to.  Don't
burden the application, burden the parser, in those cases where the
application demands it.

-derek
"that which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal: from which it
follows
 that irregularity - that is to say, the unexpected, surprise, and astonishment,
    are an essential part and characteristic of beauty" - Charles Baudelaire

Received on Tuesday, 17 December 1996 17:38:31 UTC