Re: EntityReference

On 28 Jul 1998, Stephen R. Savitzky wrote:
> 
> This brings up a weak point in both the XML and the DOM specs -- no
> consideration at all is given to the possibility that one might want to
> _output_ a document, in which case replacing each EntityReference with its
> corresponding Entity is WRONG.  The whole assumption is that the parser is a
> front-end for an application that doesn't want to know about the _real_
> structure of the document.

XML provides a mechanism for text componentization that is explicitly
designed to be invisible to the application. XLink provides a mechanism
that the application can "see" and manipulate and choose to use or not
use. If you want these "first class transclusions" then you should use
XLink and not text entities.

 Paul Prescod

Received on Tuesday, 28 July 1998 12:55:18 UTC