XML Pocket Reference: Extensible Markup Language
XML Pocket Reference: Extensible Markup Language by Robert Eckstein
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Number of Pages:
- 110
- ISBN:
- 1565927095
- Product Group:
- book
- Publisher:
- O'Reilly Media
- Publication Date:
- Oct. 1, 1999
- BooksForGeeks.com ID:
- 2631
There are a couple of problems with creating an XML reference book. For one thing, XML is by definition extensible, so unlike HTML the available tags are not fixed but defined by the author of a DTD (Document Type Definition) or XML schema. The other issue is that the XML specification itself is under revision. Even so, a concise presentation of XML rules and terms makes a valuable guide. The beauty of these O'Reilly pocket reference books is that they provide notes and examples along with reference information, making this useful for learning as well as information.
The book has four main sections. The first covers XML itself, showing the rules that a well-formed XML document has to follow, including legal XML instructions and rules for elements and attributes. Next comes the DTD (Document Type Definition), with its own rules for declaring elements, entities and attributes. The third part is about XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language), and includes several pages of explanation about how XSL works, as well as a list of XSL elements. Finally there is XLink and XPointer, which define how you set up links between XML documents, or between XML and HTML documents. There is also an index.
There are a few gaps here. For example, it would be nice to see coverage of XML Schema, an alternative to DTDs and much used by Microsoft in its XML implementation. Even so, in just over 100 pages, this pocket reference does a great job in capturing the essence of what you need to know to author well-formed XML documents. --Tim Anderson
Reviews for XML Pocket Reference: Extensible Markup Language
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But but but...
Rated out of 5 stars, March 12th, 2003
Not a bad intro - but 10 quid for a tiny (5 x 3 inch ~ish) overview, that doesn't cover any of the new important things (XPath etc). Buy a book for twice the price, and you'll get ten times the value (a rule I seem to be noticing in general about IT books at the moment - going the cheapy route is not the best option unluckily!!) -
Very good
Rated out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2001
NOTE: This is a pocket reference, it is not meant to take anyone from beginner to expert, there are other books for that. This is a very good complementary book - one to sit alongside bigger books on XML as a dip-in reference tool. Very good explanations of XML syntax, especially DTD's and Schemas (not available yet in IE5). Handy reference tool for XML functions and structures. -
Handly little reference book
Rated out of 5 stars, May 12rd, 2000
Very handy little book for reference, not always up to date, but some very useful examples. -
A Good reference for the keywords available in XML
Rated out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2000
The author warns you about the changing standards! What he didn't say was the apparent inconsistancy between the examples within. This is most frustrating when you're trying to understand namespaces and then he no longer uses it/them.Even using IE5.x some examples don't work. Perhaps enlightenment of the tools used first would be a better starting point.