Learning XML

by Erik T. Ray

The Barnes & Noble Review
XML has grown into such a diverse set of technologies that it s almost impossible for newcomers to get their hands around it. Fortunately, there s a solution: Erik T. Ray s Learning XML, Second Edition.

This book presents an outstanding birds-eye view of the XML landscape. It s definitely not a programming book (though it does introduce some key XML programming issues). Rather, it s focused on key ideas you need to understand whatever you want to do with XML. That could be document management, web or print content delivery, application integration, B2B commerce, data storage, internationalization -- you name it.

Ray s day job is software developer and XML specialist at O Reilly. There, he s helped to implement a complete publishing solution, using DocBook-XML and Perl to produce books in print, on CD-ROM, and for online delivery. So he understands XML from the real-world point of view of someone with a job to do.

His first goal is to take on the big questions. First, What is XML? Ray attacks this question from multiple angles, introducing XML as a general-purpose information storage system, a markup language toolkit, and an open standard (or, increasingly, a collection of standards). What can (and can t) you do with XML? What s the history that led us here? And what tools do you need to get started?

Next, he introduces the basic building blocks of XML markup and all XML-derived languages: stuff you ll need to know regardless of your goals. Through easy examples, you ll understand elements, attributes, entities, and processing instructions -- and how they fit together in a well-formed XML document.

Then, it s on to representing information with XML -- in other words, understanding the nature and planning the structure of the documents you ll be using. Ray starts simply, then builds on his basic examples to discuss narrative documents with text flows, block and inline elements, and titled sections. Once you can handle those, he discusses more complex information modeling, as used in specialized markup languages such as VML.

This edition contains an entirely new chapter on XML Schemas -- what he calls the shepherds that keep documents from straying outside of the herd and causing trouble. Schemas, of course, have become hugely important. This is one of the best plain-English introductions to the topic we ve seen.

Ray then turns to presentation, introducing CSS stylesheets, basic usage, rule matching, properties, and more. A little later on, he returns to the subject -- this time with a complete introduction to XSL-FO that illuminates two powerful examples. The first is TEI-XML, a markup language for scholarly documents (Ray presents a Shakespearean sonnet, appropriately coded). The second is the immensely powerful DocBook -- which, as we ve observed, Ray knows inside and out.

Learning XML is superbly written. Clear explanations. Simple examples. Great metaphors and analogies. And excellent introductions to nearly every topic that matters, from links to presentation, transformation to internationalization. If you re just starting out with XML, you re lucky to have it. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

Genres: Programming, Computers, Technical, Reference, Nonfiction, Technology, Computer Science

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Nick Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather incomplete and example- rather than axiom-based, this book did little but confuse me and send me lurching back to the web. I believe I acquired it via trading a six-pack of Newcastle to David Maynor many years ago, as I'd never have bought a computer book so clearly non-mathematical in its leanings. Furthermore, the author is Eric T. Ray, which is a bit too close -- a single-step translation and a contiguous deletion of degree 4, as we say in the protein-sequencing racket -- to venerable blowhard Eric S. Raymond for comfort.

Eschew it.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently dove into a web development project using XML for the first time and gleaned a lot from various tutorials on the web and other Googling. This book was what brought all that together in my brain and helped me solidify my understanding of XML, especially the nuances of XPath. I haven't read it all the way through but it serves as an excellent reference for me as I learn and experience more about XML technology.

[laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty good introduction to XML and transformations, but some of the explanations were backwards (i.e. starting with how to do something rather than what it describes). Some of his information went too in-depth and a bit off-topic (e.g. spending too many pages describing css). Otherwise, it really helped me better understand certain issues concerning XML creation.

[Volodymyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book describing XML from the beginning, its capabilities and limitations, overviewing basic XML-applications and technologies like XPath, XSLT etc. and different XML-processing tools to use in programs.

[Jennifer Short · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seemed like more of a reference book than a beginner book. Many of the examples made assumptions about your level of understanding with other programming languages. Some of the information was good, but I found myself using another beginning book and the web more often.

[TK Keanini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction as you would expect from O'Reilly

[Sasha]

Want to know what XML is? Here you go.

[Brendon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for a history and basic specifications, but a lot of the information is out of date. Worth reading the first 3 chapters.

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction to XML and XML related technologies like DTDs, XML Schema, XSLT and XPath.

[Odile]

Reviewing skills from Library School. Shades of Jen Meyer!

[Scott Duede · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this is considerably out of date, so the part about XSL will need to be supplemented. I'm tired of reading about document formatting right now, though, so that will have to wait.

[Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that explains XML in a way that actually makes sense.

[Don Massenzio · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great beginner's book. I was brand new to XML and this book helped me to systematically learn it and put it into practice.