boolean inconsistency

[Elliotte Rusty Harold <elharo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've noticed an inconsistency in the XPath 1.0 spec. The boolean() 
type conversion function is defined like this:

boolean boolean(object)

However the other type conversion functions are defined like this:

string string(object?)
number number(object?)

In other words, all the type conversion functions except boolean() 
will operate on the context node if the argument is omitted. Is there 
a reason for this inconsistency?

If not, I wouldn't suggest changing it now, but it's probably 
something to think about for XPath 1.1. This change shouldn't make 
illegal any existing legal XPaths.

--

+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
| Elliotte Rusty Harold | elharo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Writer/Programmer |
+-----------------------+------------------------+-------------------+
|                  The XML Bible (IDG Books, 1999)                   |
|              http://metalab.unc.edu/xml/books/bible/               |
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