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RE: If an XML parser is requested to parse an XML document and noapplica

• From: David Lee <dlee@calldei.com>
• To: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>, "xml-dev@l..."<xml-dev@l...>
• Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:11:49 +0000

More seriously, could I ask what the reason is for your question?
Usually your questions are in the context of some reason, but as written your question seems philosophical,
almost nihilistic.   So maybe you could re-ask the question in a more tangible concrete way ?
Things like "xml parser"  ... do you mean a XML parser that that is compliant with the XML specs?
Things like "requested to parse" thats a little vague, probably intentionally, but you won't get useful 
answers to vague questions  like if I "request a response" from you do you really respond or not ?

To try to guess what you really mean ...
There *ARE* some side effects of XML parsing which are required to be produced, such as errors on non-well formed documents.    Even if an app ignores the content, the parser is required to produce an error  ...
But if my memory is right, parsers are not actually required to produce content.   
But furthermore , what is the *point* of your question.  People can write software to do whatever they want,
and they can choose to call it anything they want ... And yes there ARE XML parsers which are lazy,
such as StAX parsers (pull parsers) which only "parse" when you ask for something ...
but then the meaning of "request to parse" is implicitly tied to the request for data, not the creation of the parser.




----------------------------------------
David A. Lee
dlee@calldei.com
http://www.xmlsh.org


-----Original Message-----
From: Costello, Roger L. [mailto:costello@mitre.org] 
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 7:25 AM
To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
Subject:  If an XML parser is requested to parse an XML document and no application is around to process its output, does it really parse the XML document?

Hi Folks,

    If a tree falls in a forest and no one 
    is around to hear it, does it make a 
    sound?

Similarly, 

    If an XML parser is requested to parse
    an XML document and no application 
    is around to process its output, does it 
    really parse the XML document?

We perceive that an XML document has been parsed because there is an XML application that invokes the fruits of the parse and does something with it (displays, computes, etc.)

Perhaps the XML parser is a lazy parser and refuses to do anything until prodded by an XML application. So if there is no XML application, there is no parsing.

Thoughts?

/Roger


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• References:
  • If an XML parser is requested to parse an XML document and noapplication is around to process its output, does it really parse the XMLdocument?
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>