Reviews for How to Use XML (BP)

1. Best of British

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 2005

   This book really is superb. To qualify that let me explain that it's the first publication that was able to sell XML to me in plain English - both in its explanation of the benefits and the usage. This opened my eyes to whole new branches of technology including web services and distributed multi-tier applications. If any more praise were needed I actually managed over 13 chapters of this book before having a glazed-eye moment (anybody who regularly reads technical manuals will understand) - it really is that good.

   Only points to note are that the bulk of the book is actually devoted to explaining XML with DTDs - in my experience, XSD schemas are more prevalent to the point that only early adopters and legacy systems are still using DTDs. However it does spend a good few chapters covering XSD schemas and namespaces so there are no deficiencies in the content.

   In short, a very clear and readable explanation of a very dry (nay boring) subject.

2. Comprehensive guide, excellent at the price

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 2003

   I went to my local bookshop with an urgent need to buy something on XML - I'd hoped to find an O'Reilly book, but this was all I could come up with. I have to admit to having low expectations given the cheap price and somewhat DIY-looking production.

   I needn't have been concerned - the book is an excellent and very thorough guide to XML, with lengthy explanations of the rules of creating valid XML, DTDs, schema and namespaces. It's very easy to read and understand, and I found myself breezing through it and learning very fast.

   It's not 100% perfect - there are a fair number of typos (although fewer than I've seen in some much more expensive computer manuals), and a couple of annoying places where the same coding error has obviously been copied and pasted across five or six different examples (surely using a validator on the sample code would have caught this?) but I have to say that given the price, the thoroughness and the clarity with which the subject matter is covered (there are one or two exceptions, but generally they relate to more arcane aspects of the XML specifications) this is an excellent book.

   I also never realised what a delight it would be to read a computer manual that is UK-centric - it was a really nice surprise to read example addresses with postcodes rather than zips, and xml documents cataloging London underground lines.