Re: PIFLE (was Re: Are PIs useful?)

Bert writes:

> Is there any difference in what a parser hands to the application? In
> one case the application gets this:

I think we've all missed the point. Processors should pass the contents 
of the PI _unchanged_ to the designated back-end, and not concern 
themselves with them at all.

So <?TeX \pageno=37?> is silently passed by the browser to TeX, assuming 
that TeX is being activated for some reason to handle the document.

There is of course no reason why they could not just as well be used to
pass signals to the XML processor, as currently proposed, either generically
with <?XML version="1.0" rmd="none?> or specifically like <?JUMBO %mol=7?>

But for them to be used _mainly_ for signaling the XML processor is self-
defeating, as Bert suggests, if such information properly belongs in the
instance markup.

///Peter

Received on Thursday, 15 May 1997 10:50:21 UTC