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Re: Unicode BOM as document separator [was: RE: "Intr

• From: John Cowan <cowan@mercury.ccil.org>
• To: Jim DeLaHunt <from.xml-dev@jdlh.com>
• Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2012 17:46:00 -0400

Jim DeLaHunt scripsit:

> I'm not sure how important this is to your usage, but The Unicode
> Standard already defines the meaning of a Byte Order Mark (BOM) code
> point in the midst of data. Up until Unicode 3.2, the BOM code point
> U+FEFF had the Byte Order Mark semantics at the start of a text
> stream, and the Zero-Width Non-Breaking Space (ZWNBS) semantics
> within a text stream. As such, your "<data>" element could validly
> include a U+FEFF codoe point.

That's true, but a U+FEFF cannot appear outside the root element, where
only PIs, comments, and whitespace are valid, never character content.
However, using a control character is easier on the recipient, who can
split the documents before parsing them.

-- 
Being understandable rather than obscurantist poses certain
risks, in that one's opinions are clear and therefore     | John Cowan
falsifiable in the light of new data, but it has the      | cowan@ccil.org
advantage of encouraging feedback from others.  --James A. Matisoff

• References:
  • Re: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basic principles of ...
    • From: BillClare3@aol.com
  • Re: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basicprinciples of ...
    • From: John Cowan <cowan@mercury.ccil.org>
  • RE: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basic principles of ...
    • From: "Len Bullard" <Len.Bullard@ses-i.com>
  • Re: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basicprinciples of ...
    • From: John Cowan <cowan@mercury.ccil.org>
  • Re: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basicprinciples of ...
    • From: James Clark <jjc@jclark.com>
  • Re: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basicprinciples of ...
    • From: James Clark <jjc@jclark.com>
  • Re: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basicprinciples of ...
    • From: Uche Ogbuji <uche@ogbuji.net>
  • RE: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basicprinciples of ...
    • From: David Lee <dlee@calldei.com>
  • Unicode BOM as document separator [was: RE: "Introducing MicroXML, Part 1: Explore the basic principles of ...]
    • From: Jim DeLaHunt <from.xml-dev@jdlh.com>