Posted by Ed Mullen on 12/11/49 11:44

Toby Inkster wrote:
> Davémon wrote:
>
>> Lists with no items? That doesn't make any sense to me at all!
>
> The mathematical equivalent for the UL element would be what is called a
> "set".
>
> A set is a group of numbers/shapes/letters/vectors/whatever. Some examples
> are the set of all positive integers, the set of letters that directly
> follow vowels in the alphabet, and the set of all people called Kevin.
>
> The set is an abstract concept, and can be dealt with mathematically, in
> many cases without worrying about how many (if any) elements it contains.
>
And in this example based on mathematics, a set can contain null items.
That is, a set is still a set even if its content is empty.

So. An HTML construct of:

<ul>
</ul>

may be odd but not necessarily "wrong." such a construct will, of
course, have ramifications of visual spacing but it won't break anything
in any other regard.

Intellectually interesting, not sure it's valuable from a practical
standpoint.

--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net
http://mozilla.edmullen.net
http://abington.edmullen.net

[Back to original message]