DOCBOOK: reasoning behind index terms

["Matthew L. Avizinis" <mla at gleim dot com>]

Hello,
  What is the reasoning behind using all the index, indexdiv, primary,
secondary, indexentry, etc. terms? (Is there a link to a webpage that
already addresses this issue perhaps?)  A debate at my office has one side
supporting the docbook terminology and the other stating that
<index>
  <item>
     <item>
        <item>
           etc.
        </item>
     </item>
  </item>
</index>

would be simpler to use with XSLT, i.e. any code would be shorter and less
repetitive.  I, for one, am in favor of the more descriptive approach used
by docbook.  However, perhaps I do not able to state my reasons eloquently
enough to convince them that it has more advantages than the above method.
So, could someone describe a few reasons why DOCBOOK uses the terms it does
for indexing and perhaps show some of the disadvantages of the above scheme.
thanks for all help,
   Matthew L. Avizinis <mailto:mla@gleim.com>
Gleim Publications, Inc.
   4201 NW 95th Blvd.
 Gainesville, FL 32606
(352)-375-0772
      www.gleim.com <http://www.gleim.com>