Lexical value of "duration" type.

Dear XML Schema WG members,

I sent the original post in January, but I think the wording of PR is
still confusing.


In section 3.2.6.1 of part 2,

The first bullet says
> The lowest order items may be omitted. If omitted their value is
> assumed to be zero. 

It seems to me that this statement implies that only the lowest order
items can be omitted.

However, the third bullet says the opposite:

> If the number of years, months, days, hours, minutes, or seconds in any
> expression equals zero, the number and its corresponding designator may
> be omitted. However, at least one number and its designator must be
> present

This statement can be interpreted that any items can be omitted as long
as at least one is present.
If the third is true, why do we need the first bullet?


And the second bullet is also confusing. In the second paragraph of
section 3.2.6.1, the spec says

> the value of the Seconds component allows an arbitrary decimal

Of course, this should implies that the other items cannot have decimal
fractions. However, the second bullet says

> The lowest order item may have a decimal fraction.

What does it mean by "the lowest order item"?  I guess it's the right
most number that is present, but if so, these two statements are inconsistent.

And if "the lowest order item" just means the seconds component, this
bullet should be removed.


regards,
----------------------
K.Kawaguchi
E-Mail: k-kawa@bigfoot.com

Received on Monday, 19 March 2001 19:53:47 UTC