RE: [xml-dev] XML: why there is no escape (was Re: [xml-dev] What to escape when serializing XML)

• From: "Michael Kay" <mike@...>
• To: "'Rick Jelliffe'" <rjelliffe@...>,<xml-dev@...>
• Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 23:55:31 -0000

> But a question like "How do we escape a non-printing 
> character" should have only one answer in XML: "You cannot 
> escape non-printing characters (in the sense of adding some 
> prefix that makes them OK);

I don't agree. Escaping doesn't mean "adding a prefix", it means "switching
to a different encoding convention", or "breaking away from the constraints
imposed by the current rules". I find the usage "< is escaped as &lt;"
perfectly natural (once the strangeness of the transitive verb wears off).
But naturalness, of course, is a matter of opinion.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/