Re: RS/RE considered confusing?

> From: Gavin Nicol <gtn@ebt.com>
> Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 13:17:57 GMT

> >1. Most SGML parsers won't handle such an SGML declaration.  The
> >practical benefit for XML of SGML compatibility is to enable SGML
> >tools to be used on XML documents.  If XML uses features of SGML that
> >aren't implemented in most SGML parsers, this practical benefit is
> >lost.
> 
> Does SP allow this?

Yes (at least in the multi-byte version).  Do any others?

> >2. It's not clear to me that this in general will work with a
> >conforming SGML system.  The entity manager is supposed to transform
> >whatever mechanism the OS uses for representing lines into RS/RE. 
> 
> I have never heard that "lines" are equivalent to "records".

My understanding is that the term "record" as used by SGML means the
same as "line", in the sense of input line.  It's called "record"
rather than "line" to distinguish it from line in the sense of a
formatted, output line.  See clause 4.252 of the standard.

James

Received on Tuesday, 17 September 1996 09:29:16 UTC