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XML @ Web Programming
Programming Shed : Programmer Store & Resources |
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XML Index - XML Book :
Xml : A Primer
by Simon St. Laurent Paperback - 500 pages 3rd edition (May 2001) Hungry Minds, Inc ISBN: 0764547771 Dimensions (in inches): 1.30 x 8.52 x 5.54 Amazon.com: Simon St. Laurent's foray into XML is best described by an adjective not often used with computer books: charming. From its portable size to its playful code examples, XML: A Primer is an interesting and well-crafted read. Stylistic considerations aside, it is also a useful introduction for anyone who does considerable work in HTML or SGML. St. Laurent explains the nuanced differences between XML and HTML, stating, "Using XML requires a different focus, demanding that designers examine the way that their documents are built rather than the way they are formatted." He later comments, "XML doesn't go nearly as far as SGML in requiring conformance to standards, but it may still come as a shock to HTML developers. XML standards refer to processors (parsers), not to browsers, because much XML development will be intended for machine-readable data applications rather than graphically exciting web pages." If you are curious about the hype surrounding XML, ready for an XML book you can read cover to cover, and comfortable with lengthy code examples, XML: A Primer will offer you the knowledge you need to understand this emerging technology. Book Description: In the past few years, XML has roared from specification to buzzword to implementation. Now revised to cover the latest W3C specifications and development tools for XLink, XPointer, XPath, XSLT, and more, this lucid, example-filled primer shows you how to get a handle on this powerful Web language and begin creating data-driven applications, even if you have no prior experience with XML or SGML. Customer Reviews Reviewer: Lubomir Masar from Houston, Texas The recent book by Simon St. Laurent brought me really delectable reading about things I have never heard before. Nonetheless, it tremendously instigated my interest in this field. As for the content of his book, I highly value very comprehensible style with many straighforward examples and even more references to websites. The book is not just a primer - I consider it small beginner's encyclopaedia to the future of web. We may wish more such books by him, e.g. about CSS and topics related to XML documents formatting. If I could dare to evaluate the book in brief, I would say: well done! Reviewer: Michael Witt from Chicago, IL It's not very often that you find a book that lines up with your level of experience and curiousity, but this Primer was a perfect match for me. As a webmaster with 5 years of scripting and markup experience, I appreciated that this book didn't waste any time with HTML. It is an excellent entry point to XML - I couldn't imagine there being a better one out there. It answers "what is XML?" and "how can I use it?" and gets immediately to these points. The author very effectively uses the book itself as an example of what an XML document looks like - i.e. he goes back and scripts an actual chapter in markup. It is very well written (I read 150 pages in one sitting two weeks ago.) Some people might complain that there is too much focus on creating documents and not enough detail about enabling e-commerce, but I think this aproach is necessary. I have since purchased other more detailed books on the particular facets of XML that I'm going to implement for e-commerce, but I wouldn't have gotten here so quickly if it wasn't for this primer. Very highly recommended if you are a webmaster and you don't need the HTTP and HTML background & want to jump directly into XML. Reviewer: Michael K. Schubert from Atlanta, GA I first read this book a few years ago, and still read excerpts from it periodically as friends get involved. In one of the early chapters, St Laurent basically asserts that WYSIWYG was actually a technological setback. I knew at that point I was going to enjoy the book. If you're into computer science, and want to understand the technology - this is a great place to start. Reviewer: A reader from New England It's February 2001, and this book still does a better job of explaining what XML is all about than ones with a 2001 copyright date. St. Laurent's understanding of a Primer is right on target. Instead of having tons of code for the reader to cluelessly hammer out, he explains how XML works, and so when the reader does code the examples, he understands far better what's going on. The explanation of the Document Object Model is unmatched in any of the other books published on XML. Likewise, the crucial topic of Document Type Definitions (DTD) is handled far better and in intelligent detail than anything published since. Unfortunately, XML is deceptively complex. While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to crank up an XML file, toss in some CSS and claim XML is yet another programming language one has conquered, understanding how the DTD works requires more than a couple of examples and a reassuring pat on the shoulder that the reader can do it in an afternoon. What St. Laurent does, and does well, is to prepare the serious developer/programmer for understanding XML. To be sure, the book represents a foundation for using XML and is not an entire treatise on all that XML can do. However, unlike some of the books I've seen on XML that contain code that will not validate (including on their CD ROMs), this book gets it right. If you want to get XML right, this book is the place to start. |
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