Re:&nbsp;[xml-dev]&nbsp;xml&nbsp;with&nbsp;no&nbsp;-->"<?xml&nbsp; ve

["Rick Jelliffe" <rjelliffe@allette.com.au>]

Pete Cordell said:
> Original Message From: "Sudheshna Iyer" <sudheshnaiyer@hotmail.com>
>
>> Then what is the use of having the first line --><?xml version="1.0"
>> encoding="UTF-8"?>"

Many programmers don't know much about character encodings. For@example,
even the most basic question such as what is the default character
encoding of the computer they are currently using. This kind of programmer
is at best undertrained and at worst a menace.

So having the encoding="UTF-8" explicit serves the purpose of making it
explicit. If they open the file in an editor, for example, and they see
the first line they can think, "ooops, I better open this up again using
‚”‚ˆ‚… right encoding" ‚”‚ˆ‚…‚Ž the declaration has served a useful
purpose. Or they may think "oops, Ibetter check my code to make suer I
actually do serialize my data out as UTF-8". Even just "What is that?" is
valuable if it ‚‚‚‹‚…‚“ programmers study the issue and become aware.

But the big thing, I think, is that encoding is an issue that cannot be
left to the plumbing, to other imagined layers: the buck stops at XML.

Cheers
Rick Jelliffe