Arjun Ray [mailto:aray@[...].net] wrote: 

>  | 	First, consider this pattern:
>  |
>  | 	   foo.Bar = "some string" ;
>  | 	   foo.Bar = foo.Bar + "another string" ;
>  
>    1.  Is the idiom possible?
>    2.  If it is, then validity is undecidable.  Think about it.


Why isn't validity decidable? If the right-hand string is XML 1.0 and
it's parsed as such by the property setter, why would it be any
different than a call to load() or parse()? Setting the property always
overwrites the node's children. Obviously there are restrictions on
character encodings relating to how strings are represented in the host
language, but it doesn't mean it's a lost cause.
 
You may not like such features for reasons related to "purity" but
that's not going to stop the hoards of Microsoft developers from using
them to increase productivity and get the job done.

--
Aaron Skonnard <http://skonnard.com> , DevelopMentor <http://develop.com>
   Essential XML Quick Reference available online in PDF format...
      <http://develop.com/books> 


History not used is nothing, for all intellectual life is action, like
practical life, and if you don't use the stuff -  well, it might as well
be dead. - arnold toynbee 



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