Script tag in XHTML

This might sound like a reaaaally dumb question but...

why do browsers have a fit with this syntax:

<script type='text/javascript' src="/path/to/my.js" />

and want this instead

<script type='开发者_StackOverflow中文版text/javascript' src="/path/to/my.js"></script>

Seems the first construct should be valid since there's no inner content to the tag..

?

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Why don't self-closing script tags work?