Books for Prep | |
 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Edition: 1st Format: Bargain Price Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 822 Publication Date: May 31, 2000 Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: 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 Topics covered:
Product Description: When the first edition of this book was written, XML was a relatively new language but already gaining ground fast and becoming more and more widely used in a vast range of applications. By the time of the second edition, XML had already proven itself to be more than a passing fad, and was in fact being used throughout the industry for an incredibly wide range of uses. With the third edition, it was clear that XML was a mature technology, but more important, it became evident that the XML landscape was dividing into several areas of expertise. Now in this edition, we needed to categorize the increasing number of specifications surrounding XML, which either use XML or provide functionality in addition to the XML core specification. So what is XML? It’s a markup language, used to describe the structure of data in meaningful ways. Anywhere that data is input/output, stored, or transmitted from one place to another, is a potential fit for XML’s capabilities. Perhaps the most well-known applications are web-related (especially with the latest developments in handheld web access—for which some of the technology is XML-based). However, there are many other non-web-based applications for which XML is useful—for example, as a replacement for (or to complement) traditional databases, or for the transfer of financial information between businesses. News organizations, along with individuals, have also been using XML to distribute syndicated news stories and blog entries. This book aims to teach 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 transfer to using XML in your web pages. It answers the fundamental questions: *What is XML? *How do you use XML? *How does it work? *Programmers who are already familiar with some web programming or data exchange techniques. Programmers in this category will already understand some of the concepts discussed here, but you will learn how you can incorporate XML technologies to enhance those solutions you currently develop. *Those working in a programming environment but with no substantial knowledge or experience of web development or data exchange applications. In addition to learning how XML technologies can be applied to such applications, you will be introduced to some new concepts to help you understand how such systems work. *The book begins by explaining what exactly XML is and why the industry felt that a language like this was needed. *After covering the why, the next logical step is the how, so it shows you how to create well-formed XML. *Once you understand the whys and hows of XML, you’ll go on to some more advanced things you can do when creating your XML documents, to make them not only well formed, but valid. (And you’ll learn what “valid” really means.) *After you’re comfortable with XML and have seen it in action, the book unleashes the programmer within and looks at an XML-based programming language that you can use to transform XML documents from one format to another. *Eventually, you will need to store and retrieve XML information from databases. At this point, you will learn not only the state of the art for XML and databases, but also how to query XML information using an SQL-like syntax called XQuery. *XML wouldn’t really be useful unless you could write programs to read the data in XML documents and create new XML documents, so we’ll get back to programming and look at a couple of ways that you can do that. *Understanding how to program and use XML within your own business is one thing, but sending that information to a business partner or publishing it to the Internet is another. You’ll learn about technologies that use XML that enable you to send messages across the Internet, publish information, and discover services that provide information. *Since you have all of this data in XML format, it would be great if you could easily display it to people, and it turns out you can. You’ll see an XML version of HTML called XHTML. You’ll also look at a technology you may already be using in conjunction with HTML documents called CSS. CSS enables you to add visual styles to your XML documents. In addition, you’ll learn how to design stunning graphics and make interactive forms using XML. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - A Must BuyThis book is very concise and it tells a lot about the subject including other topics such as XSLT, RSS, and many other web technologies related to XML. Would highly suggest buying. Rating: - Excellent XML bookI'm currently reading this book and enjoying it very much. You probably would understand it more if you are already a programmer. But I think it's good for non-programmers as well. Covers a lot of the new technologies that are using XML, which is very useful. Rating: - Great XML Reference Book.Other than the fact that you can tell that the book was written by 5 different guys because of the the difference in writing styles between chapters, overall it is packed full of information and a handy reference. Rating:  - Choppy and poorly written(I don't have time for a full review right now,so I will write a few comments and try to add to them.) I knew very little about XML, so this sounded promising. As of Chapter 8, my general comments are: 1. The teaching structure is often murky. At many spots, the authors don't seem to grasp what a beginner needs to know first in order to go to the next step. This makes the material unnecessarily difficult and confusing. 2. Instead of one example ... Read More Rating:  - Fairly good, but not practical for non-Microsoft usersI am taking an XML class at the University using this book as the required course text. The authors do a good job at highlighting the key technologies, and the examples and tutorials significantly enhance the material. I enjoy the straight-forward manner with which Hunter and his friends explains what the example code in the book does. My only disappointment is that the book does not explain in enough detail how to use XML technologies on non-Microsoft systems. I believe a greater emphasis on Java ... Read More 
In association with Amazon.com | |