SGML objects

Lou Burnard (lou@vax.ox.ac.uk)
Wed, 11 Aug 1993 11:25:08 +0200


Jay C Weber writes

>"Objects" in SGML sources are easy to define, just divide the source
>into tag instances and the text among them, and number sequentially.
>Then we'll want a way of referencing tag substructure, say "the value
>of the HREF parameter of the 10th object".

This is a *very* low-powered way of looking at an SGML document! An SGML
document is a tree, for heaven's sake. The sequential ordering of
elements (not "the text between the tags") is interesting, but not as
interesting as their hierarchic disposition. You want to be able to say
things like "the third BLORT which is a child of any FARBLE which has
attribute value 'Gung-Ho'" . Well, maybe you don't -- but I do.

Lou Burnard