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Re: XSL Previous Node

2005-03-17 10:19:59
Hi Michael,
 
Well, postceding isn't an English word

I wondered when I suggested the word if anyone would point that out. 
It is a word you will not find in any dictionary, that's true.  I have
seen it used though.  Perhaps it is a confusion with the terms
pre-ordering and post-ordering.  I wouldn't be surprised if someone
suggested it in a committee, which is why I went ahead and mentioned
it.  I think it would sound wrong the instant they tried to say it out
loud though.

proceeding means something quite
different, so the only other candidate here is previous.

Now here I'm not sure if I agree with you.  I have heard people use
proceeding in the sense of the reverse of preceding.  Granted, this
only proves that it's an American usage, but checking the dictionary
shows that both words come from a common Latin root: cedere.  To me
proceeding seems to be typically used in a stronger temporal sense
than previous . As far as history the dictionary I checked didn't
indicate where the heck the extra e came from either.


I grew up with Codasyl which used next/prior.

This is what I was wondering.  I though there might be some sort of
precedent for using preceding and following in a programming language
or notation. It would be interesting to know what languages besides
lisp and the work with DSSSL had an influence on XSL.  (But of course,
that's really a topic for another thread if anyone does want to pursue
it).

My other other thoughts were probably either a decision by committee
or differences in the sense of the word due to cultural changes. 
Previous doesn't strike me as strongly associated with temporal
designation, but that might just be a tendency in American Midwestern
speech to use it in non-temporal senses.  But both of those theories
are OT.

Thanks for the answer. 
 

Jon Gorman

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