Re: CDATA sections in W3C XML Infoset

[Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk>]

>> I'd take that as meaning that the DOM does not conform to the
>> Infoset spec.  Accordingly, the DOM is what needs to be changed, not
>> Infoset.

First of all, the quoted claim was not that the DOM did not conform to
the Infoset because it reported CDATA sections, but that it did not
conform because it didn't have a simple way to convert all CDATA nodes
to text nodes.

But it was mistaken even in that respect: the Infoset imposes no
constraints on what a standard may specify, only on how it specifies
it.  It defines vocabulary for standards to use.  In the case of CDATA
sections, it doesn't define any vocabulary so a spec that wants to
refer to CDATA sections has to use its own terminology.  The DOM will
just do that (as it does now).

Here is the full text of the conformance section of the current
infoset draft, in the hope of preventing further misunderstanding:

 3. Conformance

 Since the purpose of the Information Set is to provide a set of
 definitions, conformance is a property of specifications that use
 those definitions, rather than of implementations.

 Specifications referring to the Infoset must:

  Indicate the information items and properties that are needed to
  implement the specification. (This indirectly imposes conformance
  requirements on processors used to implement the specification.)

  Specify how other information items and properties are treated (for
  example, they might be passed through unchanged).

  Note any information required from an XML document that is not
  defined by the Infoset.  

  Note any difference in the use of terms defined by the Infoset (this
  should be avoided).

 If a specification allows the construction of an infoset that has
 inconsistencies as described above under Synthetic Infosets it may
 describe how those inconsistencies are to be resolved, and should do
 so if it provides for serialization of the infoset.

-- Richard