XML in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference
XML in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference by Elliotte Rusty Harold and W. Scott Means
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Number of Pages:
- 498
- ISBN:
- 0596000588
- Product Group:
- book
- Publisher:
- O'Reilly Media
- Publication Date:
- Jan. 1, 2001
- BooksForGeeks.com ID:
- 2635
Concise, accurate and sharply focused, XML in a Nutshell is a complete introduction to the essentials of the XML standard. It aims to give software developers a full understanding of how XML works, and also provides a handy reference to the version 1.0 recommendation from the W3C (Word Wide Web Consortium).
In four parts, the first part introduces XML and covers the fundamentals, including chapters on Document Type Definitions, Namespaces, and Internationalisation. The next part focuses on XML as a document format, with coverage of XHTML, XSL transformations, XPath, XLinks and XPointer, and using CSS (Cascading Stylesheets) or XSL-FO (XSL Formatting Objects). Data transmission and programming are the focus of the third part, which explains the Document Object Model and introduces SAX (the Simple API for XML). The final part is the reference section, and covers XML 1.0, XPath, XSLT, DOM, SAX and character sets.
XML is a slippery subject. It is really a family of many related specifications, most of which are still evolving, and in addition most developers need to know about several XML applications alongside the core technology. This handbook sticks mostly to the core of XML, so you should not expect more than a mention of SOAP, SVG (Scaleable Vector Graphics), or MathML, to take three examples. It is disappointing to find hardly any coverage of the XML Schema language.
For what it does cover though, XML in a Nutshell is a masterpiece of compression, laying the foundations for an excellent understanding of XML and finding space for example code and apt comments along the way. --Tim Anderson
Reviews for XML in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference
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Good Service
Rated out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2010
Item was down as being second-hand, but the item I received was brand-new ! Excellent service, recommended. -
A generally good book
Rated out of 5 stars, August 12th, 2002
This is a generally good book to both someone who is just starting with XML and an XML expert as a reference.It has a simple introduction on the basic elements of XML, DTD's and Namespaces. It's main part consists of a good explanation on XHTML, XSLT, XPath, XLink, XPointers, CSS and XSL-FO and is good for anyone who wants to learn about these. XML Schemas, the DOM and SAX are also thoroughly covered. The second half of the book is a reference section on all of these, which would particularly interest an XML expert. It has to be said here that although the reference section is really thorough, it does feel a bit messy and you might need some time to get used to.
Unfortunately this book doesn't have any section on how XML can be used with any programming languages. An appendix on PHP or PERL would be particularly welcomed, as something about connecting XML with Databases. On the other hand I guess you could get another book for that and you could see this one as suitable to someone who only wants to learn everything about XML.
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A detailed XML reference
Rated out of 5 stars, September 12th, 2001
XMLThis book's an authoritative document: covering XML basics like DTD authoring and detailed discussion of attribute types - through to the more esoteric issues of character sets and the tricky XML namespace standards.
At every step, I found it easy to follow. It's not a book for the non-computer literate though; more aimed at people with an existing basis of technical knowledge. A techie web-designer would find it a good start.
About a third of the book is filled with references. I don't know why, but my heart usually sinks when I see page-filling content like this - that said, ultimately it's the reference books like this that end up covered with scribbles and post-it notes, so while they might not make good reading, they're very useful.
It touchs on all the necessary bases - XSLT, XPath, XHTML, XLink, XPointers, CSS - I could go on. This book does. Heck of a basis for future reading: after two and a half years in XML, there's stuff in here that I haven't come across before!
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Thumbs up
Rated out of 5 stars, July 12th, 2001
Excellent. All the topics are covered very well. Both the nut shell chapters and reference chapters are well done. I highly recommend this book. Instead of pouring through the vast information on XML and realted techlogies and confusing myself, I thought I will bet my 30 bucks on O'reilly. Well, I am glad I did that. As a java programmer I am greatful to the authors insight to add references for SAX and DOM. I liked the chapters on namespaces,XPath, XPointers and XSL-FO. They gave a good introduction and insight into these technologies. -
Not quite a waste of trees but close
Rated out of 5 stars, May 12st, 2001
Proports to be a desktop quick reference but fails badly in this area. The reference sections are badly formatted making it difficult to find items when you know where they should be, and the index is poor and incomplete making it nie on impossible to find them if you dont. When found information is scant and sometimes incomplete - for instance the document grammar in EBNF is missing half the definitions. I can understand the need to keep the book size down, but this could be better achieved by not reproducing character sets at the back of the book.With no coverage of schemas this will not last on your bookcase long.