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XML @ Web Programming
Programming Shed : Programmer Store & Resources |
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XML Index - XML Book :
Beginning XML
by David Hunter, Jeff Rafter, Jon Pinnock, Chris Dix, Kurt Cagle, Roger Kovack Paperback - 900 pages 2nd edition (November 2001) Wrox Press Inc ISBN: 1861005598 Dimensions (in inches): 1.72 x 9.00 x 7.28 Amazon.com: Beginning XML provides a complete course in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) with an unusually gradual learning curve. In fact, the introduction states that the book is "for people who know that it would be a pretty good idea to learn the language, but aren't 100 percent sure why." Despite its recognition of the fuzziness of readers' understanding of the technology, the book delivers a rather comprehensive study of XML. Very little space is wasted detailing the history of XML and its relation to SGML, as is the case in many other titles. The argument for the importance of XML is made quickly, and the basics of well-formed syntax are tackled right off. One notable distinction of this book is its excellent coverage of related technologies, such as cascading style sheets (CSS) and relational databases. In addition to discussing the crucial companion standards to the core XML language (DTDs, XSL, and XSLT), the book adds a nice perspective to the broad range of applications in which XML can play a role. One section, "Other Uses for XML," illustrates how XML can be used to serialize object models, creating stateless objects and utilizing the Resource Description Framework (RDF). Case studies on--among other things--how XML can be used to build discussion groups, and provide B2B data transfer, round out the text. This book is perfect for Web programmers who are turning their attention to XML for the first time. It imparts a solid understanding of the XML forest and XML trees. --Stephen W. Plain Beginning XML covered: • Well-formed XML • Cascading style sheets (CSS) • XSLT and Xpath • Document Object Model (DOM) • Simple API for XML (SAX) • XML/database integration schemas • Document Type Definitions (DTDs) • Namespaces • B2B data-transfer applications • Discussion group applications Book Description: Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a rapidly maturing technology with powerful real-world applications, particularly for the management, display, and organization of data. Together with its many related technologies it is an essential technology for anyone using markup languages on the web or internally. This book teaches you all you need to know about XML - what it is, how it works, what technologies surround it, and how it can best be used in a variety of situations, from simple data... Customer Reviews Reviewer: amazon_reviewer from San Clemente, CA USA No doubt this is a must for beginners in XML, and after a long time the GODs at Wrox decided to grace us poor programmers who are not gurus with a Beginning book. The way they had been churning out Professional series out of their factories I had already prepared my obituary for the Beginning series. About the book. One of the best on the block for XML. Language is simple, easy to understand, and handles complex topics like XSLT very deftly. Downside. Very very wordy. This is the first time I see in a Beginning series the author spending so much ink and pages on simplest of topics. Strangely enough some complex topic are written off in half a page. Examples in XSLT dont work. Inspite of downloading the XT program which the author recommends, more than half of the examples of the book don't work, leaving you depressed and confused, you then tend to re-read the pages, trying to find if you missed anything... XML applications arent covered in a greater detail and neither are practical examples for XML use shown. In my opinion even with its faults this book is still, one of the better ones on the block, try skimming thro the earlier pages a bit faster if you don't want to be put to sleep. Don't waste too much time if the books XSLT examples don't work, just buy this books to get your basics covered and made strong. Lastly, as I have mentioned again and again, Wrox beginning series are no longer what they used to be, and if anyone at wrox is reading this, I pleade them to get back on their earlier motto of providing quality books like the beginning asp/asp databases/javascript series, or end up losing their fans like me. Reviewer: Lev Weinstock from Albuquerque, NM United States Hi, I have been looking at number of XML books and I recently found the "Beginning XML" from Wrox which was really by far the best I have seen. The book is very clearly explained. One of the thing that I particularly like about it is that the table of content is well-designed. While this may sounds trivial, it is not the case for many other Intro XML books I have seen, who typically tend spend too much time on the genesis of XML and little if any to topics of interest to programmers (The XML DOM or SAX for example). For this reason, I think that this book is the right book to get started. Perhaps complemented sometimes along the line by a another book dealing more in-depth with the specificities of the programming environment you are dealing with (such as the Java xml, VB xml or asp xml books by the same publisher). The one thing that I was lukewarm about were some of the case studies: while designing a threaded discussion board with XML is ingenious, it is also one of the most difficult and inefficient ways that I could think of doing it. The book cover indicates that this books is aimed at more or less every user. In my opinion, the book is aimed at experience web developers (knowing at least HTML) who understand basic programming concepts and have some programming experience (with anything). It does not on the other hand require the user to be fluent at all in Java, VB, ASP or Javascript for instance (although readers who have such knowledge will appreaciate some of the examples). Reviewer: makt23 from Alborg Denmark ADO, javascript and microsoft based. XSLT is impossible to understand. This subject of "beginning xml" should be written in 400 pages and not in 822. What if you want continu to "expert xml"? Shall you read 3000 pages in 3 books?yes you can buy all the wrox xml line!! Reviewer: milesyao from Red Bank, NJ United States See my full comment on XML Bible Gold Edition. Basically, these two books are complementary - one for Coders and the other for Writers/Designers. This is the best intro for Developers I can find so far. It covers the basics, then immediately proceed to SOAP, RPC, Web Services, and all the buzz that's going on right now. The coverage seems perfectly balanced btw breadth and depth. Two annoyances came thru in my cursory read: - Heavy Microsoft bias: explanations for setting up sample SOAP and other servers are targeted to Windows only, no Unix/Linux support. Many of the code samples are in ASP, although some others are in Java. Annoying but perhaps inevitable given MS' de facto leadership on the technology so far. - No CD, although the examples are supposed to be available online. |
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