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Summary: Excellent book for the Oracle practitioner
Review: A fine book, strongly recommended. No laborious explanations of the obvious, treats the reader as intelligent. Well chosen examples, all related to practical and real-life situations. If you work in an Oracle shop this is the one book you should read on XML.Only criticisms are (i) the high level of XML awareness assumed by the book, (ii) it is a fairly comprehensive tutorial on XSLT, but isn't quite structured right as an XSLT tutorial (material is scattered through the book), and (iii) lack of discussion on scalability and performance of XML technologies. It would also have been nice to see some personal opinion on how Oracle's XML technolgies fit in the wider world, and where things are likely to head with 9i, given the author's position.
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Summary: very good and very arrogant
Review: A very good book in that it teaches You XML with Oracle from any point You might wish to look at. But: every single chapter starts not with the introduction of the packages supplied by Oracle but with some Steve Muench helper packages. Then You are forced to work with them. If You really are after learning XML at its source and, heaven forbid, want to build Your own packages, You must delve into Oracle packages on your own.
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Summary: This book does not cover XMLType datatype ...
Review: and you won't find any information on it, rest is , best xml book you can get covering oracle.
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Summary: Find your "missing" Oracle XML documentation here...
Review: Finally! You've heard the one about the IT manager and the CEO, the punch line reading something like "the information you've given me is technically accurate but totally useless"? This is exactly how I was beginning to feel about Oracle's XML documentation (primarily on TechNet) -- tons of what I needed, with no degree of coherency or focus to task. I eventually gave up on wading through countless Oracle URLs and READMEs and simply decided to wait for the release of Steve Muench's book. I'm glad I did. Steve takes us on a journey of well-documented *examples* that explain the "why" and "how" of the Oracle XML API, not just the "what". Especially good is Chapter 5, the PL/SQL XML API - great for long-time Oracle dweebs that have yet to polish up on Java. I have few criticisms - I had hoped to see an electronic version of the examples on the included CD (any maybe they're there but they were not immediately apparent). I also recently purchased O'Reilly's XML Pocket Quick Reference - it does a bit better job at concisely explaining XML and XSL syntax. Rather than dis Muench's effort, I prefer to believe that the Quick Ref is an essential companion to this otherwise stellar find. If you plan to "do XML" with Oracle, you MUST BUY THIS BOOK, period. 'Nuff said.
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Summary: A Clear & Comprehensive Guide to XML Technologies
Review: Finally, a comprehensive guide to Oracle 8i's support for XML. Excellent examples, clear and yet complete narrative as is customarily found in the O'Reilly series. Also includes the best overview of the XML standard that I've read. The sections on the interMedia extensions were great. Highly recommended.
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Summary: I wish all programming books were like this one!!!
Review: First, I must say, when I picked this book a few weeks ago, I already was working with XML/Oracle/Etc for almost a year. At the time the variety of books in the market was very limited (I had to learn XSLT from a site in the Czecz republic because no book offered a decent coverage!). So, I picked this book to see what I had missed, and what I was doing perhaps not in the best way. This book was everything that I expected and more. It covers *a lot* of material, XML, XML Storage (How to use Oracle Clobs, for example), XPATH, XSLT and more - the authors don't cut corners, they explain everything thoroughly, and that's why the book takes more than 700 pages. The examples are excellent - concise and right to the point. The material is written in a clear and comprehensive way. Usually programming books take a lot out of me - but not this one! I thought I knew a lot about XML, but I learned much I didn't know from this book. To summarize, this is how a programming book should be! Simply above and beyond the call of duty. I also think it would be useful for people which intend to use XML with databases other than Oracle.
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Summary: Must read XML book!
Review: I absolutely loved all of the examples and the fact they work directly with straight Oracle 8i and Java instead of requiring a bunch of additional software packages. I thought the examples really demonstrated well the technology on which the book focused. This book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding and applying XML!
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Summary: A Work of Art!
Review: I'm going to get gushy here. I've been reading computer books for 20 years now, and this is one of the best content-specific ones ever. Steve uses examples that are brief but extremely relevant. He approaches topics much like programmers do - by stating a real (not toy) problem, then giving successively more elegant and functional solutions. Gradually my thoughts shifted from "XML is hype" to "XML is very useful!" On top of all this, the book is cheap! Some recent O'Reilley books have disappointed me, but this one restores my faith. It's destined to become a classic.
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Summary: A Work of Art!
Review: I'm going to get gushy here. I've been reading computer books for 20 years now, and this is one of the best content-specific ones ever. Steve uses examples that are brief but extremely relevant. He approaches topics much like programmers do - by stating a real (not toy) problem, then giving successively more elegant and functional solutions. Gradually my thoughts shifted from "XML is hype" to "XML is very useful!" On top of all this, the book is cheap! Some recent O'Reilley books have disappointed me, but this one restores my faith. It's destined to become a classic.
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Summary: Outstanding !
Review: I've been working the text and am amazed at its' completeness and attention to detail. Every example provided ( thus far ) has rendered the exact results; When trouble abounded, a note was handily placed in the text that addressed the error and its' solution. From basics to complex real world problem solving, this book hits home. I highly recommend this material to any Oracle professional !! It's a MUST HAVE. Bravo to Steve Muench and Oreilly --
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