Chapter 11. Surprises
Introduction
I once e-mailed an “XPath Quiz” containing six multiple-choice questions about XPath 1.0 to the XML development team at Microsoft. Of those who replied, not one person answered all six questions correctly (although a few got five right). Evidently, XPath is a subtle language filled with hidden complexities, even for the experts who have implemented it! Or as I sometimes exaggerate, “XPath is all special cases.”
As an even larger and more complex language containing most of XPath 2.0 as a subset, XQuery multiplies the surprises. Understanding some of these hidden complexities will illuminate the inner workings of these languages and assist you in mastering their nuances (not to mention any pop quizzes).
This chapter ...
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