Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for beginner
Review: This book is perfect for beginner, who wants to understand the concept behind XML and its related functionality (XSL, DOM, DTD, etc.) The book is easy to understand, interesting to move forward. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Some good special topics, but not comprehensive
Review: This book is useful, it's just a question of how much.I found that some of the "tutorial-style" topics discussed helped me get some general approaches down. And did you know that having an unescaped ampersand (&) in your #PCDATA will blow up some XML parsers? I can't find anything in the book that adresses this and it strikes me as fundamental. Many indications of whole book: a bit random and incomplete. Still looking for a complete XML reference with examples.
Rating: 
Summary: Yet, some new insights
Review: Here are some reflections: (*) As you may have seen in the table of contents, there is a chapter on 'XML Schemas'. This means 'XML Schemas in general' and not the upcoming 'XML Schema' specification (as an alternative to DTD's). (*) The example covered in the final chapters is surprisingly elaborate. It illustrates how XML acts as an information exchange mechanism AND as a means of storage. Prerequisite: Java knowledge. (A 'Crash course on Java' is added in appendix, though, I wonder whether this will do for people without Java background.) (*) The example is based on the Jetty Servlet engine. Not obvious, given the wide availability of Apache/JServ. (*) I had to puzzle a little before getting everything up and running. It definitely pays to check out the update-information on Que's website. (BTW, the author's personal website is pretty useful as well.) (*) I used following jars to compile the XCommerce application: xml4java_2.0.13, lotusXSL_0.20.0 and jetty_2.4.1 (with v2.1 compatibility switch). (*) Quite some examples are JavaScript based. I found this pretty cool. e.g. JavaScript is used to turn HTML form values into an XML document, which in turn is the submitted through an HTTP post. Then, a Java servlet picks up the document, etc. If you need sample code, this book will help you. (*) Appreciation: I'm looking forward to Benoit's next book.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book to start learning XML
Review: I found this book to be excellent to start learning XML. If you want to understand what XML is all about without getting into scholastics, buy it. It doesn't overwhelm the reader with endless empiric discussions and takes the shortest routes to get you to the point. That is what makes this book valuable for professional programmers who need a quick "jump-start" on XML. The examples are simple and easy to understand. However you should clearly understand that this book is not about sophisticated applications of XML. If you are already familiar with the basic concepts of XML and have some practical experience with it, you most likely will not find this book very useful.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book -- For Java Programmers Only.
Review: This book has given me great understanding about XML and its power when mix with Java. What I also love about this book is the example of an eCommerce with XML and Java as its backbone. You'll really see the role of XML on the web application. I highly recommend this to Java programmers only. If your not you may wanna read about java first.
Rating:
Summary: XML and related topics presented well in this book
Review: "~I decided to buy three XML books after reading customer reviews here. Needless to say I am not disappointed with them. This book especially is excellent - if you think you want to get big perspective first and then attack XML/CSS/XSL/SAX in detail ... this is the book to start with. I only wish XSL was better explained, but as the author rightly points out that XSL is still evolving - nothing to complain. Nice examples. book.
Rating:
Summary: Great XML book for JAVA programers!
Review: A great easy to read book with lots of examples! Covers everything about XML. You need to get one if XML is of any interest to you! However, I wish the supporting web site could better information.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT book !
Review: Enjoyable and easily readable book ! I hadn't much heard about XML before, but this book explained all I had to know... It's totally understandable for novices, but also very complete. The examples are well choosen (simple enough but interesting and usable). I recommend it strongly !
Rating:
Summary: Best book on XML
Review: Positively the best book I have come across on XML. Covers all aspects of XML, XSL, DOM, SAX, modelling .... Offers excellent guidelines for choosing one option over another. Easy reading combined with depth! Would recommend strongly.
Rating:
Summary: Finally...A book for the real world
Review: The best XML book out there! It thoroughly explains XML and its uses, but any XML book can do that. What makes this book special is its chapters on XML's companion standards, which actually make it useful. The book begins with XML syntax, DTDs and Namespaces. It then moves on to the fun stuff: XSL, CSS, using the DOM and the SAX API in parsers. With that foundation, it walks you through creating XML documents inside applications. The book wraps up with a detailed N-Tiered Architecture example, which was thankfully written in Java. The author was kind enough to include a crash course on Java in the Appendix. Overall, the examples were excellent and interesting. I have read four other XML books, including one with the same title, and this is the first where I could actually apply the examples in my real world projects. My office has a copy of most of the XML books out there, but this is the only one I'd recommend to developers at any level.
| 
