Rating: 
Summary: Excellent overview of current state of XML
Review: I found this book a much better introduction than the other two books I had looked at on XML, which quickly delved into Java-scripting and program development environments. Unlike these other books, which assume a fair amount of Web programming experience on the part of the reader, XML Dummies does a very good job of presenting a readable overview of the topic. I got through the book quickly, and felt that I had a good grasp of XML and its potential when I was done. I highly recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: The WORST
Review: I have read many computer books in my days and this is the worst, hands-down. It mentions topics in a seemly random order, offers only the briefest of explanations when it does mention a topic, and never summarizes things in an understandable fashion. To top it off, the code from the book is NOT on the CD - in spite of page 355 which says it is in the xml4dum "directory" (I think they are called folders in Windows these days). Sorry, but this is a complete waste.
Rating:
Summary: Gave me a good understanding of the framework.
Review: I think this is an okay book for starting out. Not sure why everyone has bashed it. The book provides a good overview of the concepts and provides decent direction.
Rating:
Summary: Not really for dummy
Review: I was looking for some basic intro. and the title would indicate that what it would address. It starts out by stating that there's an assumption that you know HTML, well I don't. Was somewhat confusing. When I loaded the CD to see see if I could look at some real XML, found out the examples are coded in HTML. Let down.
Rating:
Summary: Not an XML primer
Review: I was very disappointed. I have read "for dummies" titles in the past as a good&cheep low level primer. To many errors for a secound edition.
Rating:
Summary: A severe disappointment to the Dummies line
Review: I wish I could have read reviews before buying this book. Then I would have looked for another title.The best of the Dummies coding books provide a soup to nuts process for building and implementing applications with the technology being discussed. This book doesn't come close to being that useful. At best, this book does function list descriptions of various pieces involved in XML communication. At best, this may increase your familiarity with the more indepth concepts you will need to find elsewhere. The function descriptions are linked to each other solely by verbal transitional phrases. The book does not provide hands on tutorials on the core effort required to support XML. That is, the effort required to create and run the code and view the results. Even worse, the book sidesteps describing the infrastructure required to operate XML communication. There is really no discussion about how to automatically produce, transmit, receive, parse, and process the XML.
Rating:
Summary: A severe disappointment to the Dummies line
Review: I wish I could have read reviews before buying this book. Then I would have looked for another title. The best of the Dummies coding books provide a soup to nuts process for building and implementing applications with the technology being discussed. This book doesn't come close to being that useful. At best, this book does function list descriptions of various pieces involved in XML communication. At best, this may increase your familiarity with the more indepth concepts you will need to find elsewhere. The function descriptions are linked to each other solely by verbal transitional phrases. The book does not provide hands on tutorials on the core effort required to support XML. That is, the effort required to create and run the code and view the results. Even worse, the book sidesteps describing the infrastructure required to operate XML communication. There is really no discussion about how to automatically produce, transmit, receive, parse, and process the XML.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing can be learned from this book
Review: I'm usually not harsh about books, but this has got to be one of the worst computer books I've read. Admittedly XML is a complex topic to discuss, but another book "XML: A Primer" by St. Laurent does a much better job at showing the reader how XML works and is constructed. This book, in contrast, fails to show the poor reader what exactly XML is about -- and can do, and how one goes about developing actual XML applications. I mean, there are the code samples and explanations and everything, but after reading it I could not remember a single thing about XML. (I had to buy "XML: A Primer" to start all over again.) It's the rare kind of bad books that leave you unable to describe what you've just read. The book won't do as a primer, nor will it do as a reference. I suggest that you find a copy and read it first before deciding whether to buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Yes, book is more basic, but it lives up to its name
Review: If you are totally new to XML, this is the first book to read. It explains the basics of XML down to every command. Like most "for dummies books" it doesn't cover the application into the expert level, you would need to get one of those bibles for that. I liked the book and it gave me a foundation into XML. It does not give much help when it comes to using XML in real-world situations, but it will atleast prepair you for those "scary red books" (the one's with 10 faces on the front).
Rating:
Summary: Find another book on XML
Review: If you have any experience (even if it's only a tiny amount) with web development or programming find another book on XML. I bought this book not knowing anything about XML but knowing HTML and basic Javascript, VBScript, etc. I just wanted to understand what all the fuss was about concerning XML. I read the first 75 pages of this book before I even understood what XML was (that's about a fifth of the book). It took me many pages to understand that XML was designed for storing data (the same way a database is used) but you use other technologies/languages to present that XML data to a user on a web browser (for example, by using CSS, XSL, etc). Basically I had a lot of questions about XML and this book answered very few of them. The author repeats much of the information over and over but never goes into any depth on a particular subject. The first 125 pages could have been condensed to about 30. There are plenty of books out there on XML--some of those books have to be better than this one. It's a little cheaper possibly than some other books, but you get what you pay for.
| 
