[Lxml-checkins] r50995 - in lxml/trunk: . doc

[scoder at codespeak.net]

Author: scoder
Date: Thu Jan 24 21:56:56 2008
New Revision: 50995

Modified:
   lxml/trunk/   (props changed)
   lxml/trunk/doc/FAQ.txt
Log:
 r3306 at delle:  sbehnel | 2008-01-24 21:56:35 +0100
 FAQ update


Modified: lxml/trunk/doc/FAQ.txt
==============================================================================
--- lxml/trunk/doc/FAQ.txt	(original)
+++ lxml/trunk/doc/FAQ.txt	Thu Jan 24 21:56:56 2008
@@ -157,10 +157,30 @@
     >>> print etree.tostring(root[0])
     <tag>text<child/></tag>tail
 
-This is a huge simplification for the tree model as it avoids text nodes to
-appear in the list of children and makes access to them quick and simple.  So
-this is a benefit in most applications and simplifies many, many XML tree
-algorithms.
+Here is an example that shows why the opposite behaviour would be even
+more unexpected::
+
+    >>> root = et.Element("test")
+
+    >>> root.text = "TEXT"
+    >>> et.tostring(root)
+    <test>TEXT</test>
+
+    >>> et.tail = "TAIL"
+    >>> et.tostring(root)
+    <test>TEXT</test>TAIL
+
+    >>> et.tail = None
+    >>> et.tostring(root)
+    <test>TEXT</test>
+
+Just imagine a Python list where you append an item and it doesn't
+show up when you look at the list.
+
+The ``.tail`` property is a huge simplification for the tree model as
+it avoids text nodes to appear in the list of children and makes
+access to them quick and simple.  So this is a benefit in most
+applications and simplifies many, many XML tree algorithms.
 
 However, in document-like XML (and especially HTML), the above result can be
 unexpected to new users and can sometimes require a bit more overhead.  A good