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RE: The order of attributes

• To: "DuCharme, Bob (LNG-CHO)" <bob.ducharme@l...>
• Subject: RE: The order of attributes
• From: ian.graham@u...
• Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 14:40:30 -0500
• Cc: Xasima Xirohata <xasima@g...>, xml-dev@l...
• In-reply-to: <216A47D0C2D1574B9A9169A664C376FD027F4A81@L...>
• References: <216A47D0C2D1574B9A9169A664C376FD027F4A81@L...>
• User-agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.1

Quoting "DuCharme, Bob (LNG-CHO)" <bob.ducharme@l...>:

> Quoting Ian Graham: 
> 
> >Quoting Xasima Xirohata <xasima@g...>:
> 
> >> I wonder why the order of attributes doesn't matter in XML 1.0...
> 
> >This characteristic of attributes is inherited by necessity from SGML:
> 
> >XML 1.0 was derived (if that >is the right word) from SGML, such that 
> >XML 1.0 data could be correctly processed by SGML processors. 
> 
> >So to find a written reason for this language design choice, you'd need 
> >to look back to the roots of SGML.
> 
> I think the general idea is that if the ordering of pieces of
> information associated with an element matter to an application, then
> they should be declared in the content model as child elements, where
> you have various regular-expression-like options for describing ordering
> options. 

I agree with this interpretation, but it does not explain _why_ attribute order
is explicitly not relevant.  

I, like you, just take this as a done deal (recalling the SGML legacy
requirements, plus the fact it doesn't to me seem a big issue ;-)). But if
Xasima Xirohata wants the underlying reason for this choice, then I suspect the
answer lies deep in the origins / design of SGML.   

• References:
  • RE: The order of attributes
    • From: "DuCharme, Bob \(LNG-CHO\)" <bob.ducharme@l...>

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