attribute nodes

I was wondering if any of you folks out there could answer a question about
attribute nodes.

Why is it that an attribute node has an element as a parent node but is not
the child of this element node? An attribute is always associated with an
element. It may exercise rights of paternity but is disowned by its parent!
How cruel! [0]

I would appreciate the technical reason, if there is one.

Thanks,

Mike Fitzgerald

[0] http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath#attribute-nodes


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