XML by Example (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Some excellent info, many unexplained examples
Review: This was my first introduction to XML and I really liked the first part of the book, which is an intro to the basic concepts. I also really liked the examples and info on using CSS to display XML. I haven't found any other book or article that covered this as well as Marchal. But a lot of other info was not well-explained, such as converting to HTML. He relied on the user grabbing programs that work only on one or two operating systems, none of them specifically for the Macintosh which I use. In fairness to the author, there isn't much for the Mac, but more detailed explanation would have been appreciated.

Rating:
Summary: Not so Good
Review: I get the feeling with this book that sometimes the author could just not be bothered. He starts a concept clearly enough but then leaves the subject half complete, launching into another subject entirely, leaving the reader - who has a real world problem to solve, completely in the dark.

There is not a smooth graduation from simple concepts to advanced with this book.

G

Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Book for the XML Novice
Review: This is the perfect book for a web developer wanting become productive in XML development as soon as possible. XML is a complicated topic because there is so much information to present and to put into context. The author does a magnificant job of teaching the reader everything he or she needs to know to use this incredibly powerful technology right away. It's very readable and is very easy to follow along with. If you use Java Technology to implement the server-side functionality of your web applications, you'll find a wonderful example of how to incorporate XML into the middle tier. I was very disappointed with the negative reviews of this text. I would urge you to disregard them. I've read the book and I disagree with those reviews outright. This book has helped me to be successful with XML and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. You'll definitely want this book if you're ready to get started with XML development.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry. Not for beginners.
Review: Frankly, I've been doing HTML, javascript, etc... for several years now. This book is _not_ for someone with no XML background. The author does an acceptable job discussing the difference between content and presentation. After that, though, he fails to lay any groundwork before forging ahead into more complex topics. He immediately starts throwing around acronyms, which would be ok, if he discussed them a bit more. The examples are not explained line-by-line. He introduces a subject, has an example about that subject, and moves on. Doesn't really integrate subject with everything else.

I'll keep this book until I get through a _beginner's_ book, and then maybe it will be useful.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgivably incorrect information.
Review: I'm fortunate in that I didn't have to buy this book myself to find out how bad it is. One of my co-workers loaned it to me. This book is poorly put together, which is forgivable, but it also contains totally incorrect information, which is not. Let's take page 55 as an example: To begin with, it has "<[CDATA[", which is wrong (should be "<![CDATA[") and then, worst of all, it has this sentence: "NOTE The difference between CDATA and PCDATA is that PCDATA cannot contain markup characters." There is no excuse for that- that is not a case of xml shifting so much that it could justify being wrong. That would be wrong in any version of xml.

Rating:
Summary: The Very Best for beginners
Review: This is one of the best books for XML beginners. Just great for people who want to move into XML from HTML. The author has introduced the topics nicely and covers it up with some good examples. One suggestion...More Examples are required and a companion CD will help a lot

Rating:
Summary: There's Better
Review: If you have some experience with ASP, skip this book and buy Wrox's Professional ASP XML. It gives a very readable, thorough introduction to XML and then builds from there. XML By Example isn't very readable.

Rating:
Summary: great tutorial, fantastic sample architectures!
Review: While the tutorial is well-written, easy to get through, and comprehensive, what really shines in this book are the sample architectures. The big one is at the end: a Java/XML e-commerce server. It uses servlets, and even follows the recommended "model-view-controller" architecture, with one controlling servlet fronting all the other components. XML is used both in presentation and in persistence. Simply amazing - the example teaches a lot about server-side Java architecture in general, never mind doing it with XML! There are other smaller sample architectures throughout the book, including client-side generation of XML using JavaScript/DOM in IE 5.0 (a great trick if you need it), and a really amazing way to merge content based on different DTDs.

In terms of the tutorial, Marchal covers all the XML basics (syntax, DTDs, namespaces, XSL) and the object APIs (SAX and DOM). The DTD chapter has the best explanation I've seen of the arcane yet powerful external parameter entity concept, which Marchal rightly describes as a way to build large DTDs out of smaller ones. There is a nice chapter on modeling advice that is long on real-world experience and short on the usual belabored object modelling BS.

Buy this book, it is still as good, if not better, than the newer ones. This is everything you need.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: Hard to follow; abstract discourse predominates rather than "examples"; fails to first build a foundation when presenting new topics. Simply put, it's a hard book to read and get through, chapter by chapter.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Follow
Review: I bought the book based on the glowing reviews found here, and feel compelled to offer a lower rating. The moniker "By Example" is a little misleading, since the presentation still tends to be quite abstract. And in covering fundamental topics such as Namespaces and Schemas, the author needlessly complicates the presentation right off the bat by throwing a lot of convoluted, varying syntax when introducing the topic to the reader. The author fails to introduce new concepts in a simple fashion, allow the reader to gain some level of understanding and then build on a foundation. He throws too much abstraction at the reader from the get go, making it a frustrating experience getting through each chapter.