Processing XML with Java: A Guide to SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, and TrAX

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Summary: An excellant choice
Review: I bought this book when it first came out. I really enjoyed reading it. The book is well written. It has a lot useful code.
The author code that can be used in the real world of JAVA and XML. I liked the books section on JDOM. This book shows the differences between DOM and JDOM. Also, this book has a lot of information on SAX, DOM, JDOM, and it shows the differences when using each. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn JAVA and XML. Make sure you are an experienced developer before purchasing this book.

Michael

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Summary: Very readable, complete, and up-to-date
Review: I found everything in this book that is required as a Java XML developer. Very well written and contains good number of examples. Every chapter topic is well thought of and the content flows nicely. The book is divided into five parts. The first part (5 chapters) describes XML family of standards and basics of options available for working with XML in Java. Part two (3 chapters) contains detailed discussion on Simple API for XML processing (SAX), a very popular event-based streaming XML API. To complement the second part, the third part (five chapters) contains excellent coverage on Document Object Model or DOM. Fourth section (2 chapters) contains information on JDOM and finally the last part of the book (2 chapters) focuses on XPath and transformations (XSLT). Throughout the book the author presents useful notes and tips. In summary, this book is the best technical book for Java XML developers; highly recommended.

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Summary: Excellent!!!
Review: If only every technical book was written this well! Anyone who is working with Java and XML should have a copy of this book. Highly example driven with clear explanations, the author makes using XML in your Java programs a breeze. Even better, the author has a style that makes the book fun to read as you feel like you are learning all sorts of secrets from an XML insider.

The book starts with a quick introduction to XML and then gets into how to create XML documents in your programs. The first four chapters cover everything you need to know about creating XML whether it is for XML-RPC, SOAP, or simply to store in a file. The next section covers parsing XML documents. SAX and DOM are compared and then the next eight chapters discuss these two methods of parsing documents, explaining how to use them, comparing them, and helping you determine how to decide which technique to use for which situation. The section on DOM explains not just how to parse documents using DOM but also how to create new documents. The final chapters of the book cover JDOM, XPATH, and XSLT.

Did I mention that this book is full of examples? The author doesn't rely on simply explaining how something works or how to use a technology (even though his explanations are excellent), he has examples to demonstrate everything he discusses. Each example builds upon the previous example and makes learning the techniques easy and enjoyable.

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Summary: Elliote Rusty Harold is my favorite author
Review: Lucidity, explanation of the fundamentals are E.R. Harolds hallmark. Mr Harold has authored several Java and XML books and all of them are a pleasure to read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Value
Review: This book is an excellent resource for combining these two technologies, XML and Java. The author starts with the assumption that the reader is conversant in XML and at least intermediate skill level with Java. The first chapter of the book serves as a XML refresher. The author uses this chapter to reach a common understanding of terms with the reader. The first part of the book covers using many of issues of managing XML from Java and introduces two XML based services, XML-RPC and SOAP.

The remainder of the book is devoted to the various APIs for parsing XML hence the subtitle "A Guide to SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, and TrAX". Throughout the book the author creates clear code examples and very readable text. This serves to develop understanding and insight in reader. This particular technical topography is under continuous change. Adapting to these changes will be much easier after having read this book.

A lot of tips and "gotchas" are shared in the book, but it is arranged so that the developer grab what he needs or he can sit and camp awhile. The book text is available at the author's website, but I prefer to read the paper copy. If you are going to use XML and Java together, this book would be a good investment.

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Summary: Excellent piece
Review: This is a great book. One couldn't ask for more when it comes to XML and Java processing. I was following the pre-releases and was even more satisfied when saw the 'fat' final edition. It is clear the author had spent time on putting it together and to make the reader satisfied. The content complexity evolves from topic to topic but it is easy to read with accurate examples. Besides the classic subjects of DOM, SAX, JDOM, etc. the author marks different parsers and processing techniques as well as had dedicated some chapters to the web services protocols. In short, if you are relatively new to XML and have the Java background this book will set you right on track. For the rest of us it will make the new XML bible!