The Bottom Line
Pros
- Very comprehensive overview of XML
- Covers XSLT and transformations
- Has information on DTDs and Schemas
- Even has a section on using XML
Cons
- Doesn't go very deep into the topic
- The usage section is fairly short
Description
- Part 1: XML - how to write it, rules, elements, attributes, and more.
- Part 2: XSL - transformations, XPath patterns and functions, and XSL-FO.
- Part 3: DTD - creating a DTD, using entities and notations, validating and using DTDs.
- Part 4: XML Schema - basics, simple types, and complex types.
- Part 5: Namespaces - designing XML namspaces and using XML namespaces.
- Part 6: W3C Recommendations - XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0, and XQuery 1.0.
- Part 7: XML in Practice - Ajax, SOAP, RSS, ODF, KML, WSDL, and others.
- Appendices: XML editors and tools and character sets and encoding.
Guide Review - XML: Visual Quickstart Guide by Kevin Howard Goldberg
When I first picked up this book I thought it was awfully small for such a big topic. But there is a lot crammed into this little book. The book is easy to read and the color photos and examples make it easy to follow along.
I love how the book is written in short examples and step-by-step instructions. You can turn to nearly any page of the book and there is a photo or colored code and some steps to follow. The two-column layout per page takes a minute or so to get used to, but once you are it reads like a Web page, without needing to scroll.
A Great Overview
The nicest thing about this book is how thorough it is for only 270 pages. It covers enough about each aspect of XML that you can understand it and get started working with it. You won't be an XPath guru after reading this book, but you will know enough to get started working with XPath. And there are so many other things this book covers as well, including XSLT, DTDs, Schemas, and namespaces.
Review written: 14 July 2009.
