Render [empty links]() as <u> (or <a>)?

Spec
8

My argument is about consistency between the input and output, and not about the consistency of implementations. It’s much easier to see in an example:

This is consistent behavior:

[foo](bar)    <a href="bar">foo</a>
[foo](ba)     <a href="ba">foo</a>
[foo](b)      <a href="b">foo</a>
[foo]()       <a href="">foo</a>

This is inconsistent behavior:

[foo](bar)    <a href="bar">foo</a>
[foo](ba)     <a href="ba">foo</a>
[foo](b)      <a href="b">foo</a>
[foo]()       <a>foo</a>

I’m not sure how you can argue that the HTMLAnchorElement is not an anchor, when the actual spec clearly states:

If the a element has an href attribute, then it represents a hyperlink (a hypertext anchor) labeled by its contents.

emphasis mine

I recommend avoiding w3schools, they’re not affiliated with the w3c and often have moderately stale content.