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Re: A seemingly odd question: What is XML?

• From: Wendell Piez <wapiez@wendellpiez.com>
• To: "xml-dev@lists.xml.org" <xml-dev@lists.xml.org>
• Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 11:44:56 -0400

Hi,

The question is meaningless unless we accept XML's own particular
distinction between  "tag" and "text". In XML World, surely the text
is embedded in the tags, which is why I agree with John Cowan. (See
Production 1 of the XML Rec, where 'CharData' does not appear, but
'element' does.)

But outside XML World, the tags are text as much as the text is -- if
not more so, to a class of strange creatures that may include XML
parsers, since the tags are the only "text" they know how to read.

Cheers, Wendell

On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 10:03 AM, John Cowan <johnwcowan@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 5:30 AM, Costello, Roger L. <costello@mitre.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Which is correct:
>>
>> (a) XML is a bunch of tags embedded in text.
>>
>> (b) XML is a bunch of text embedded in tags.
>
> Both are wrong, but (b) is less wrong.

-- 
Wendell Piez | http://www.wendellpiez.com
XML | XSLT | electronic publishing
Eat Your Vegetables
_____oo_________o_o___ooooo____ooooooo_^

• References:
  • A seemingly odd question: What is XML?
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>
  • Re: A seemingly odd question: What is XML?
    • From: John Cowan <johnwcowan@gmail.com>