Re: [xsl] Pointers are weird

["Jean-Luc Chevillard jeanluc.chevillard@xxxxxxxxx" <xsl-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Roger,

Here BELOW is a piece of disassembled code, from my archives, of very 
long ago ;-) , in another life ...)

if the same byte could not be interpreted

either as data
or as pointer
or as instruction

depending on where "WE" are ...

no microprocessor would function :-)

It is a weird miracle that computers were invented :-)

Best

-- Jean-Luc (in MCB<ssen, Schleswig-Holstein)

https://www.tamilex.uni-hamburg.de/team/chevillard.html

++++++++++++++++++++

LAMBDACB CB CB CB CB  PROC
CB CB CB  cld
CB CB CB  cli
CB CB CB  movCB CB CB CB CB CB CB  sp, offset top_stack
CB CB CB  sti
CB CB CB  std_errCB CB CB CB CB CB CB  PubCB CB  ; numC"BBro de version
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  pushCB CB CB  dsCB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ; *
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  subCB CB  ax,ax
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  ds,ax
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  nop

CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  ax, DS:24CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ;CB CB  sauvegarder
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  cs:int9low, axCB CB CB  ;
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  ax, DS:26CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ;
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  cs:int9high, axCB CB CB  ;CB CB  le vecteur NCB8 9


CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  cli
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  ax,offset kb_int_process;
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  DS:24,axCB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ;CB CB  installer
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  ax,csCB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ;CB CB  le nouveau vecteur NCB8 9
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  DS:26,axCB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ;
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  sti
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  popCB CB CB  dsCB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ; *
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  nop
BB:CB CB CB  nop
CB CB CB  nop
CB CB CB  jmpCB CB CB  AA
AA:CB CB CB  nop
CB CB CB  cmpCB CB CB  byte ptr cs:scan_read, 81h
CB CB CB  jzCB CB CB  CC
CB CB CB  nop
CB CB CB  jmpCB CB CB  BB
CC:
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  pushCB CB CB  dsCB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ; *
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  subCB CB  ax,ax
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  ds,ax
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  nop

CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  cli
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  ax,cs:int9lowCB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ;
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  DS:24,axCB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ;CB CB  restaurer
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  ax,cs:int9highCB CB CB  ;CB CB  le vecteur NCB8 9
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  movCB CB  DS:26,axCB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ;
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  sti
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  popCB CB CB  dsCB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ; *
CB CB CB CB CB CB CB  nop

CB CB CB  returnCB  0
LAMBDACB CB CB CB CB CB CB  ENDP
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


On 11.04.2025 12:31, Roger L Costello costello@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> Occasionally friends come over to my home and I take them on a walk around the neighborhood. When I see some thing interesting, I raise my hand and position my index finger in the direction of the interesting thing. That is, I point at the interesting thing. It seems to me, that that is a real pointer--my index finger pointing at some thing.
>
> XML has pointers, e.g.,
>
> <Book ref="SK">...</Book>
>
> <Author id="SK">Stephen King</Author>
>
> The value of the ref attribute, "SK", points to <Author id="SK">
>
> "SK" doesn't look like a pointer to me. It looks like data. XML-aware tools, however, treat it as a pointer to the <Author> element with a matching id value.
>
> HTML has pointers, e.g.,
>
> <a href="#lesson1">...</a>
>
> <p id="lesson1">...</p>
>
> The value of the href attribute, "#lesson1", points to <p id="lesson1">
>
> "#lesson1" doesn't look like a pointer to me. It looks like data. HTML-aware tools, however, treat it as a pointer to the <p> element with a matching id value.
>
> I conclude that, in XML and HTML, a pointer is not a pointer at all. It's data. It's data that is repeated elsewhere in the document: ("SK" ... "SK"), ("#lesson1" ... "lesson1"). For this "pointer fiction" to work, a tool that processes the document must participate in the fiction and treat ref="SK" as pointing to <Author id="SK"> and treat href="#lesson1" as pointing to <p id="lesson1">.
>
> Isn't that weird?
>
> /Roger