Errors in XML 1.0 spec (PostScript version)

Here are some apparent errors and omissions I've found in the XML 1.0
spec:

1. The description of the syntax in Sec. 6 does not explicitly define
the notation [abc], where the material in brackets is a sequence of
characters.  Since other bracketed notations are defined, this one
should be also.  It is used in Production 13 for PubidChar.

2. The description of the syntax does not state the precedence of the
syntactic operators, leaving the possibility that
    a b | c d
could be interpreted as either
    a (b | c) d
or
    (a b) | (c d)
Though common usage obviously favors the second interpretation, a formal
specification should resolve this issue explicitly.

3. As an example of the issue in (2), Productions 11 and 12 are
inconsistent in their use of parentheses.  Production 11 includes them
on both sides of the alternation but Production 12 does not, even though
there is no apparent reason for the difference.

4. In Production 10 for AttValue, the "<" probably should not be
excluded since its presence in an AttValue creates no ambiguity (an
AttValue is always explicitly quoted, and an "<" within an AttValue can
never be taken as markup).

Paul Abrahams
abrahams@acm.org

Received on Monday, 20 July 1998 12:41:03 UTC