ISO 8879 TC2 Formal Syntax Errors

ISO 8879:1986 was amended in 1997 by ISO 8879 TC2 ("WebSGML"). The text of that technical corrigendum contains obvious errors, such as trailing commas in productions; below is a list of what I believe are all of the errors in the formal syntax (this does not include prose errors). Uncorrected text is copyright © 1997, International Organization for Standardization.

These changes are apparently being incorporated into a draft corrigendum.

[2] [3] [145.1] [196] [196.3] [196.4] [196.5] [198] [198.2]

[2] and [3]

The corrigendum says:

[2] SGML subdocument entity =

(

s*,

SGML declaration )?,

prolog,

document instance set,

Ee

The text of the corrigendum obviously refers to production 3, which is called "SGML subdocument entity" in ISO 8879:1986; this is clearly just a typographical error in the production number:

[3] SGML subdocument entity =

(

s*,

SGML declaration )?,

prolog,

document instance set,

Ee

[145.1]

[145.1] data specification =

"DATA",

ps+,

notation name,

data attribute specification?,

The trailing comma is an obvious error. The presumedly correct production is:

[145.1] data specification =

"DATA",

ps+,

notation name,

data attribute specification?

[196]

[196] markup minimization features =

"MINIMIZE",

ps+,

"DATATAG",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"OMITTAG",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"RANK",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

(

"SHORTTAG",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" |

(

start-tag options,

end-tag options,

attribute options ) ) ),

(

ps+,

empty element ending rules,

ps+,

implicit definitions )?

There needs to be ps+, in between start-tag options, end-tag options, and attribute options. For clarity and for parallelism with that between empty element ending rules and implicit definitions, I would put them in this production:

[196] markup minimization features =

"MINIMIZE",

ps+,

"DATATAG",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"OMITTAG",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"RANK",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

(

"SHORTTAG",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" |

(

start-tag options,

ps+,

end-tag options,

ps+,

attribute options ) ) ),

(

ps+,

empty element ending rules,

ps+,

implicit definitions )?

[196.3]

[196.3] attribute options =

"ATTRIB",

ps+,

"DEFAULT",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"OMITNAME",

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"VALUE",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" )

No space is permitted between OMITNAME and the following YES or NO. There is obviously a missing ps+, in between.

[196.3] attribute options =

"ATTRIB",

ps+,

"DEFAULT",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"OMITNAME",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"VALUE",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" )

[196.4]

[196.4] empty element ending rules =

"EMPTYNRM",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

The trailing comma is obviously an error. However, since production [196] provides ps between empty element ending rules and implicit definitions, there is no need for the ending ps nor for the preceding comma:

[196.4] empty element ending rules =

"EMPTYNRM",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" )

[196.5]

[196.5] implicit definitions =

"IMPLYDEF",

ps+,

"ATTLIST",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"DOCTYPE",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

"ELEMENT",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"ENTITY",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"NOTATION",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

Again, the trailing comma is obviously an error; and again, neither the entire ps construction nor the preceding comma is necessary. In addition, there is no space between the YES or NO after DOCTYPE and the following ELEMENT; a ps is necessary.

[196.5] implicit definitions =

"IMPLYDEF",

ps+,

"ATTLIST",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"DOCTYPE",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"ELEMENT",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"ENTITY",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"NOTATION",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" )

[198]

[198] other features =

"OTHER",

ps+,

"CONCUR",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"SUBDOC",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

ps+,

"FORMAL",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

(

urn feature,

keeprsre feature,

validity feature,

entities feature )?

The text of this production in ISO 8879 TC 2 blew away the number parameter to both CONCUR and SUBDOC. I believe this was unintentional and the production should be:

[198] other features =

"OTHER",

ps+,

"CONCUR",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

(

"YES",

ps+,

number ) ),

ps+,

"SUBDOC",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

(

"YES",

ps+,

number ) ),

ps+,

"FORMAL",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" ),

(

urn feature,

keeprsre feature,

validity feature,

entities feature )?

[198.2]

[198.2] keeprsre feature =

ps+,

"KEEPRSRE",

ps+,

(

"YES" |

"NO" )

NO is given first in every other YES or NO production. For consistency, this one should match, but Charles Goldfarb (the editor) has indicated that, since this is a cosmetic change, it will wait until a revision of the Standard.

[198.2] keeprsre feature =

ps+,

"KEEPRSRE",

ps+,

(

"NO" |

"YES" )

Back to the SGML productions.

Last updated and validated 31 May 2001.