No, I do not have any examples; partly because I am
speculating instead of comparing implementations. However, an
RTF can be optimized for addition, while a node-set must
allow fast traversal and direct (XPath-addressed) access.
Many RTFs are not used
as node-sets, thus this should make sense.
Ok, that's from an implementors point of view. From a developers point
of view, converting to a node set is a pain. Is it not possible for the
processor to initially use RTFs and then convert to a node-set
internally when needed? Excuse my naivety here, but it seems the
obvious solution.
Does anyone actually do anything serious with an RTF anyway (without
converting to a node-set)? Im scratching my head to think of an example
where the processor would be wasting processing time using node-sets
over RTFs.
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