Re: [xml-dev] Generic XML Tag Closer </> (GXTC)

[Elliotte Harold <elharo@metalab.unc.edu>]

Melvin Chin wrote:
> May I seek some opinions on this topic/proposal?
> 
> ===================================================================
> To extend XML spec just a little to permit use of "</>" (GXTC)
> to be placed wherever it is permitted in the current XML spec
> to place a closing tag.  The semantics will be to effect a
> closing of the nearest open tag before the position of GXTC.

Irrespective of the costs of changing XML at this late date, it's a bad 
idea. Short end-tags make XML too hard to read and too hard to debug. 
This was done in SGML, and it was removed from XML for good reason. 
Redundancy isn't necessary for computers, but it's critical for humans.



-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo@metalab.unc.edu
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