<< is a special case, however it is a special case of the same
magnitude as <lt>. The change doesn't introduce "special case" logic,
it just trades one set of logic for another.
It hits my parser in a completely different way that does require
"special case" logic. Everywhere else I can "look between the angle
brackets", but here I have to explicitly look for an immediate following
second open angle bracket, and if it's there I must NOT look for a close.
And along this line, I'd just as soon require that > be coded
as <gt>, but I suppose that wouldn't fly with anyone either. :-(
To avoid rehashing the olde argument, I won't say anything
about cosmetics being totally unimportant to processable text.
--
Rick Troth <troth(_at_)rice(_dot_)edu>, Rice University, Information Systems