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re: Namespace entity names Re: UTF-8+names

• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: re: Namespace entity names Re: UTF-8+names
• From: David Megginson <dmeggin@a...>
• Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 09:20:21 -0400
• In-reply-to: <3F94F580.6010001@a...>
• References: <3F917A29.1000708@t...><3f96f447.23635425@s...><20031020170656.GB3723@m...><3F94A02F.3090703@a...><1066716882.9084.128.camel@delleric><3F94DD75.4070305@a...><20031021074525.GG4192@t...><3F94F580.6010001@a...>
• Sender: David Megginson <dmeggin@a...>

Joern Clausen wrote:

 > I don't think that is a flaw. I repeat my question, which was not
 > answered yet: Why are only elements and attributes subject to a
 > namespace definition, but not entities? 

There was some discussion during the development of the NS spec, and I
think it came down to the point that elements and attributes are
structural, while entities are not.  To take a simple analogy, in C++
variables, class names, and functions can be namespace-qualified, but
preprocessor macros cannot.  XML processing instructions were a grey
area, since they are sort-of structural.

If we could go back in time and I were appointed Infallible Grand
Dictator of XML, I would not have allowed entities in the first place
(though I might allow named character references of some kind).
Realistically, though, some people do like entities quite a bit, so
it's unlikely that they would have been dropped even if we had known
then what we know now.


All the best,


David

• References:
  • UTF-8+names
    • From: Tim Bray <tbray@t...>
  • Re: UTF-8+names
    • From: Bjoern Hoehrmann <derhoermi@g...>
  • Re: UTF-8+names
    • From: John Cowan <cowan@m...>
  • Re: UTF-8+names
    • From: Rick Jelliffe <ricko@a...>
  • Re: UTF-8+names
    • From: Eric van der Vlist <vdv@d...>
  • Re: UTF-8+names
    • From: Rick Jelliffe <ricko@a...>
  • Re: UTF-8+names
    • From: Joern Clausen <joern@T...>
  • Namespace entity names Re: UTF-8+names
    • From: Rick Jelliffe <ricko@a...>

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