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Tim Bray wrote: > [I]f the doc has > > <brothers><matt /><jim /><luke /><dave /></brothers> > > then if I don't see them in the order (m, j, l, d) that they > appear in the document, something is wrong. Software that > rearranged the elements as part of processing would be broken; Absolutely. Unfortunately, such software is not actually out of compliance with XML 1.0. > As to whether the order is "significant" in the human/design/business > sense, that is totally language-specific, and I don't agree with > Henry that you can reverse-engineer it from the DTD. -Tim I think HST's point is sound, though his wording may be unfortunate. Let me attempt to paraphrase: a) If the elements MUST appear in a specified order (according to the DTD or whatever), then the order CANNOT convey any additional information to the application. b) If the elements MAY appear in any order (again according to the DTD or whatever), then the order which actually appears MAY convey additional information to the application. -- There is / one art || John Cowan <jcowan@r...> no more / no less || http://www.reutershealth.com to do / all things || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan with art- / lessness \\ -- Piet Hein
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