Xml Learning by Example

Rating:
Summary: Good value
Review: Demystifying, edifying and concisely written. It is quick to read and easy on your budget. I like the web support (download the codes). Excellent for those needing a beginners "tour" around XML.

Rating:
Summary: I agree
Review: I agree with the other reviewers (especially those from the teaching profession). This book (and the others in the same "Learning by Example" series), are the best thing that hit computer education in a long time. They are wonderful course-ware tools, and for pennies!

Rating:
Summary: A Godsend
Review: I agree with the other reviewers that this books covers all the relevant material and is an excellent teaching aid. What the other reviewers don't stress is that it is a godsend for teachers. A week or two playing with the material will show that you can compentently deliver a very good course (between 2 day mini-course and a 4 or 6 week 1-credit course). If you are a bit inventive and set the students extra projects, then there is enough here for a 12 week semester.

So all you teachers out there should use this material - it is complete and ready for you to deliver to your students! Why waste time developing your own stuff when this is ready-to-go?

Rating:
Summary: Another hit !
Review: I liked Dr Mellors book on ASP very much, so I was interested to see if his second effort, on XML, lived up to expectations. It does !

This is book for beginners, from precocious teenagers to first-graders at IT college, as well as vocational training. The material is well thought out and the book is so easy to read that, without really realizing it, you can suddenly program in XML. I really like it.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing...
Review: I was disappointed in the size, layout, and content of the book.
Its size was that of a pamphlet (1/2 as tall as a normal book and only 110 pages long).
The layout was by no means impressive. There were no defined "chapters". As you completed each example it simple gave a short synopsis and the next page started a new example.

Early in the book it required the read/user to type lots of JavaScript (which had some typos), later it gave a 1/2 page on installing Java on your machine so you could complete further examples.

Though the book recommended using IE5+ in order to use the examples, some even failed to properly display using IE6. (I found the answers to the bugs by reading another XML book I purchased as a companion.)

Not recommended for newbies to WEB programming and a bit spotty for experienced XHTML/DHTML programmers moving up to XML.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book covers XML tags, CSS1 and 2, the @media directive, XHTML, DOM, XMLNS, XPath, XLST, DTD, Schemas, XLink, XPointer and DSO. It even includes excercises on ASP, Java and UNIX. It explains XML really well and I was especially impressed by the excellent explanations concering the database nature of XML.

The excercises are well thought out and include reading to and from databases, as well as storing and sorting database-type information in data islands, and presenting it using XSL.

Rating:
Summary: A really good book
Review: This book demystifies XML. As a beginner people are a bit afraid of new techniques, but Mellor leads the novice by the hand through the intricacies of XML, with plain explanations to all examples, interspaced with theory and practical tips. The book is not for hot-shot programmers, but if you are an Internet dabbler and want to know how XML works (without the hype), then this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent teaching text book
Review: This book has been adopted by us (and other colleges) because it is an excellent introduction to XML at the beginner level, for 1-credit courses. The book is well built up, pedagogically correct and at a price that suits the students pocket. It covers XML tags, CSS1 and 2, the @media directive, XHTML, DOM, XMLNS, XPath, XLST, DTD, Schemas, XLink, XPointer and DSO. It even touches ASP, Java and UNIX. Recommended for all teachers (and students).

Rating:
Summary: Be careful of the other reviews!! possible fraud.
Review: While this book seems to have a lot of great reviews, the other reviews that gave this book 5 stars are very suspicious - BE CAREFUL!

I thought this book had five stars so I was getting excited, but I saw that all the reviews seemed to be made by the same person. Firstly, the reviewers are all unregistered (I am, admittedly, as well) and use same words to praise the book, verbatim.

"I agree with the other reviewers" (used twice).

"XHTML, DOM, XMLNS, XPath, XLST, DTD, Schemas, XLink, XPointer and DSO. It even touches ASP, Java and UNIX" by 2/6/03 reviewer "Petra B," then another reviewer on 10/28/02 says, almost identically "XHTML, DOM, XMLNS, XPath, XLST, DTD, Schemas, XLink, XPointer and DSO. It even touches ASP, Java and UNIX"

I consider this "review fraud" - perhaps this person wants to sell this book, but horribly unethical. I know, it seems like I have a lot of time on my hands to go through this, but I am honestly looking for a great book on XML, and reviewers like this who seem to be shamefully promoting their product should be made known.

Please be careful!

Rating:
Summary: I loved it
Review: You don't have to go weight-lifting with 800 page manuals any more. Here is what XML is about, and the price is right! After reading this book I understood XML and what it can do. Now, as a manager, I have the information I need. Highly recommended.