This is what items of a sequence really are: links or
references to the instances (the inclusion of atomic values
here can be trivially defined --
by definition) that the sequence "contains".
So we know what an item of a sequence is but we are afraid to
call it with its real name?
I state that if the XSLT 2.0 specification fails to explain
this in detail and does not enforce the right terminology,
this will affect the correct understanding of sequences and
will cause confusion leading to mistakes for significant part
of the XSLT programmer community in their daily work. For
most of us this ultimately means frustration, lost hours and money.
Can this be prevented?
The Data Model specification is in Last Call, and if you feel this point
needs clarification then a comment to that effect would be entirely in
order.
Michael Kay
XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list