[Xpath-ng] Proposal for definition of values/lists

[Jeni Tennison]

Hi Eric,

>> I propose that we define values in XPath NG as follows:
>> 
>>   Every value in XPath NG is a list or an atom. A list is a sequence
>>   of zero or more values. Atoms are of two kinds: nodes and data.
>>   Nodes are atoms that have identity whereas data are atoms that do
>>   not have identity.
> .../...
>> Any comments or thoughts on the above issues? Any other issues that
>> I've glided over?
>
> I think that we'd rather first decide if it's worth breaking the
> compatibility (even if only in terminology) with XPath 1.0 at this
> level.
>
> I am not taking position or standing on one side or another, just
> raising a red flag that this is impacting backward compatibility and
> that we should explicitely document this choice and decide if XPath
> 1.0 is broken enough to deserve breaking compatibility...

OK, well I'll take a stand and say that I think it is worth breaking
compatibility to include lists in XPath NG. Of the changes that XPath
2.0 has adopted, I think that including sequences is one of the more
successful and that it leads to fewer backwards compatibility problems
than you might think.

Cheers,

Jeni

---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/