Re: Looking for a shorter mapping expression

>>>>> "Dimtre" == Dimtre Novatchev <dnovatchev@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

    Dimtre> Because, according to the XPath 2.0 spec: "only the last
    Dimtre> step in a path is allowed to return a sequence of atomic
    Dimtre> values."

    Dimtre> http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20/#id-path-expressions

    Dimtre> Even the last E2 in a path expression should evaluate
    Dimtre> either to a sequence of nodes or a sequence of atomic
    Dimtre> values, but not a mixture of the two... I find this
    Dimtre> unreasonably restrictive and wonder why it was decided so.

Checking the archives, this was introduced in the most recent XPath
draft. previously only nodes were permitted.

The extension to atomic values was made at the request of the XQuery
people, but I can't find in the subsequent discussion why heterogeneous
sequences were ruled out.

It's a pain for static type checking, as it doesn't fit neatly into
the type hierarchy.
-- 
Colin Paul Adams
Preston Lancashire