Re: Variable references in path expressions

> That reminds of a recent conference paper I reviewed that was writing
> /$a/$b/$c all the time as XPath expressions. It took me a while to
> understand that they actually meant it would parameterize the path
> expression....

parameterizing the path expression did not cross my mind.
its about how "/" should interprete its rhs operand. In this case
a sequence of atomic types.

$a/$b == $b if $a is a singleton does not make sense to me
with the "/" operator. Please adhere to the objective of path
expression. Yes, I can understand how the above was
derive given the current way the semantics has been designed.
It has got nothing to do with the XQuery syntax or the
static/dynamic context or the binding of variables or
the parameterizing of path expression.
It has got to do with the semantics of "/" in the presence of
a sequence of atomic items on the rhs (and I am not deliberating
about a sequence of resulting atomic items).