http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/scripts.html#h-18.2.4
1. All SCRIPT elements are evaluated in order as the document is loaded.
2. All script constructs within a given SCRIPT element that generate SGML CDATA are evaluated. Their combined generated text is inserted in the document in place of the SCRIPT element.
3. The generated CDATA is re-evaluated.
Dazu noch http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/interact/scripts.html#adef-defer
defer [CI]
When set, this boolean attribute provides a hint to the user agent that the script is not going to generate any document content (e.g., no "document.write" in javascript) and thus, the user agent can continue parsing and rendering.
Da steht es ja von hochoffizieller Seite noch mal schwarz auf weiß. Ich denke, dass sich das Thema damit endgültig aufgeklärt hat. Da bin ich aber beruhigt. ;-)
Danke!