[xquery-talk] Tales of the unexpected version III - Atomization

[Michael Kay]

Could you explain where you think these two definitions differ?

As far as I can tell, your confusion is about whether atomization is invoked in a particular context, not about what atomization actually does.

In particular, atomization is NOT invoked in XQuery when you use a construct of the form:

> 
>  <person>($thing/@name)</person> 

This is a very common source of confusion and programming mistakes. However, in terms of the specifications you cite:

(a) The XQuery specification (correctly) does not include embedded expressions in its list of contexts where atomization takes place

(b) This construct is specific to XQuery, and therefore outside the scope of my XSLT/XPath book.

Michael Kay
Saxonica