Javascript syntax <script /> VS <scrip></script> - the weirdest thing

Question

Duplicate

Why don’t self-closing script tags work?

I'm writing an ASP.net page, which have some Javascript code in JS file for client-side authentication.

While using this code prevented from my server-side code from working:

<script src="../../JavaScript/BaseJS.js" type="text/javascript" defer="defer" />

This code somehow worked:

<script src="../../JavaScript/BaseJS.js" type="text/javascript" defer="defer"></script>

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance, Oz radiano.

Answer 1

<script> can only self-close in XHTML, not HTML.

Answer 2

Am I right in saying you're testing with IE? This is a known bug. (I'm sure there are lots of other pages referring to it too.)

EDIT: In fact, there's another Stack Overflow question about this too.

Answer 3

The HTML4.01 manual section defining the SCRIPT element, states:

18.2.1 The SCRIPT element

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