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RE: Can sets have order?
- To: <xsl-list at lists dot mulberrytech dot com>
- Subject: RE: [xsl] Can sets have order?
- From: "Michael Kay" <mhkay at iclway dot co dot uk>
- Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 18:38:23 -0000
- Reply-To: xsl-list at lists dot mulberrytech dot com
> Well, no. Two sections confuse me:
>
> 1: "An axis identifies an (ordered) list of nodes. The predicate
> associated with the axis is applied to the ordered list."
>
> I would have thought that the following would make more sense, because
> it seems wierd to throw away an ordering that is never seen:
>
> "An axis identifies an (ordered) list of nodes. The predicate
> associated with the axis is applied to the *unordered set*."
I'm not arguing about what "makes sense", I'm telling you what the XPath
spec says.
>
> "The node-set is unordered, but
> the nodes have an ordering, called document order."
>
> It is confusing to say that node-sets are unordered, whilst nodes are.
I find it reasonable. If I have two sets {4, 6, 7} and {5, 6, 4} then 4<6 is
a property of the numbers 4 and 6, not a property of the set they happen to
be part of today.
Mike Kay
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