Re: [xml-dev] Abandon the (mistaken) belief that XML attributes provide"

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

> Consider this XML snippet:
>
>    <altitude units="feet">12000</altitude>
>
> I have heard it stated:
>
>     The units attribute provides data about the
>     element's data. That is, units provides
>     metadata.
>
> However, the XML specification makes no such claim about attributes providing "metadata". This is what the XML specification says:
>
>    Attributes are used to associate name-value pairs with elements.
>
> And then the specification goes on to describe the specific syntax for attributes.
>
> Thus, attributes don't provide data about an element's content. Attributes don't provide metadata.

That's a bit like arguing "The XML specification doesn't say that 12000 
is an integer. Therefore 12000 is not an integer."

Michael Kay
Saxonica