Span, Span, Span, Span, Span, loverly Span.

Here is some code. Why won’t it compile?

    private
void transformAtomArraysIntoFrequencies() {

        Nodes atomArrayNodes = xmlInput.query(

                “./*[local-name()=’atomArray’ and @dictRef=’gamessuk:normal_coordinates’]”);

}

UPDATE

Gillean (see comments) has cracked it.

I cut-and pasted it out of Eclipse, into Word (where I think the quotes were honoured as U+0022 (http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/22/index.htm). It was then published DIRECTLY by Word to WordPress. One of them corrupted it.

The underlying source in WordPress looks like:

<span style=”color:#7f0055″><strong>void</strong><span style=”color:black”> transformAtomArraysIntoFrequencies() {</span>

                    </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style=”color:black; font-family:Courier New; font-size:10pt”> Nodes atomArrayNodes = <span style=”color:#0000c0″>xmlInput<span style=”color:black”>.query(</span>

            </span></span></p><p><span style=”color:black; font-family:Courier New; font-size:10pt”> <span style=”color:#2a00ff”>”./*[local-name()=’atomArray’ and @dictRef=’gamessuk:normal_coordinates’]”<span style=”color:black”>);

(The quote is still U+0022 at this stage.) Note the emulation of the Vikings in span,span,span,span, span loverly span. What garbage. WordPress is one of the most awful tools I have every used for editing. It corrupts everything. (Ok it’s probably an old version – I am not in control).

Then if we look at the page source of the post we find

 <span style=”color:#2a00ff”>“./*[local-name()=’atomArray’ and @dictRef=’gamessuk:normal_coordinates’]“<span…

ARGHH! ARGHH! WordPress has changed the quotes into smart quotes U+8820. ARGHHH. I can’t stop it. Blink, and it reverts. You cannot cut the heads off the hydra. It regrows. Sometimes it multiplies. And you end up with rows of empty Spans.

It has beaten me. Which is why I don’t post code any more.

(Yes I have tried code formatters and other things in WordPress. No use).