Sure. But aren't they both the same (they select the same node)?
No.
If you are in <a/> in
<x>
<a/><b>b</b><!--x--><c/>
</x>
preceding-sibling::node()[normalize-space()][self::comment()][1]
selects the comment <!--x--> as that is the first node that is
non empty string value and is a comment.
preceding-sibling::node()[normalize-space()][1][self::comment()]
selects the empty node set as the first node with non empty string value
is not a comment.
David
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