Rating: 
Summary: Oreilly scores again
Review: This is an excellent quick reference quide. While other publishers are scratching their heads trying to figure out what XML is, Oreilly gets the info on the street in timely fashion. Hopefully they'll following up with one of their "Definitive Guides" to XML soon.
Rating: 
Summary: Obsolete!
Review: This would be a great book due to its economy of words and straightforward approach, however the bulk of the book -- which deals with DTDs and XSL -- is so far out of date with the W3C that the entire book is essentially irrelevant. A pity.
Rating: 
Summary: Up & Running in No Time! + A Tiny Addition
Review: What can I say? In a very short time, this book made me productive with XML applications. It will do the same for you. This is a clear, concise, and thorough text. In a way, the best thing about the book is that its small size projects the (true) psychological feeling that there really isn't all that much to basic XML - this gives you the confidence you need to move forward and start doing work.Here's what you get: XML syntax, Namespaces, DTDs, XSL, XPointer, XLink. You're not going to get Schemas, SAX, DOM, or the author's favorite emerging XML dialect. What is so funny about this book, as with all other XML books, is that the XSL section is the longest. XSL is truly convoluted and the author does a great job getting you through it. Far be it for me to aspire to the greatness of this author, but I found one tiny thing missing from the DTD section, and I will share it with you here: External Parameter Entities. These basically allow you to leverage one DTD within another. It's like a C #include or a Java import. You put them at the bottom of your DTD. So let's say you had a DTD called "stuff.dtd": <!ELEMENT stuff (thing*)> <!ELEMENT thing (#PCDATA)> You could use the "stuff" element in another DTD, say "closetcontents.dtd", as follows: <!ELEMENT closetcontents (clothing,stuff*)> <!ELEMENT clothing (#PCDATA)> <!ENTITY % STUFF SYSTEM "stuff.dtd"> %STUFF; The last two lines are the external parameter entity...they are the equivalent of an #include statement in C or an import in Java. I made STUFF all caps in the entity declaration to differentiate it from the "stuff" element but as far as I know you don't have to do this. By no means does my tiny addition say that this is an incomplete book. It is a fantastic book and literally 99.99% of everything you need to know about XML. I don't think the author forgot the thing I described, I think he thought that this feature was too arcane to mention. Many people would agree, but in case you needed it here it is. BTW, another book I highly recommend is Elliotte Rusty Harold's "XML Bible," which is also available on Amazon. That's where I first learned about the external parameter entity.
Rating:
Summary: 97 pages of true value
Review: XML Pocket Reference is a true ode to the concept of "Pocket Reference". It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or an experienced developer, this book that is just a bit larger than your remote control will satisfy your expectations. The first 10 pages of this 97 pages booklet will get you quickly up and running with the terminology, good enough to understand the structure and to be able to discuss the concept with colleagues. As in most O'Reilly books, the writer expects you to have some experience in programming as it discusses the concept and syntax quickly and without major examples. The rest of the booklet is a reference to XML elements and attributes, document type definitions and the extensible stylesheet language. This section is a great reference as everything is easy to find and well indexed. For beginners this part of the "book" is a great but sometimes complex tutorial as every section is supported by quick samples of code. When I bought this book, I was sceptic with the idea that this book was going to get me developing XML within 1 day. But O'Reilly proved that I was wrong. In less than a day I had my first XML page up and running, and now I use this book to give me the basics for every concept I try to implement. One reviewer was right when he said on O'Reilly's site that you don't need a 500-page book to learn or develop XML.
Rating:
Summary: Handy XML Reference
Review: XML, the newest markup language for web pages is slowly growing in popularity. This pocket reference guide is in spots alternately a tutorial and a reference guide to basic XML concepts. It covers terminology, rules for XML elemets and attibutes, as well as Document Type Definitions. Later on in the book, XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) concepts, and finally XLink and XPointer reference information are also covered. This pocket guide also has illustrated examples of XML & XSL "code," making concepts easier to follow. While this certainly isn't a complete guide to XML, it's still a nice book to have as a reference for XML concepts.
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