Two Ways to be Empty

So, is this: <img src='madonna.gif'></img> really exactly the same as <img src='madonna.gif'/>? As far as XML is concerned, they are. This decision was the occasion of much religious debate, with some feeling that there is an essential element between "point" and "container" type elements. And as the "for interoperability" note below makes clear, if you are using pre-1998 SGML software to process XML, there is a big difference.

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