Rating: 
Summary: XML = eXtensive Marketing Leads...
Review: ...at least that is what the publisher was trying to provide the companies...oops...I mean authors with.I don't mind the format except that it was written by the marketing departments, and not the people who actually do the work. As a technician I found it useless, insulting, and full of wishy-washy statements (no I can't give you examples because I threw the book away a long time ago). However, they are the kind of statements I'm constantly fighting over today (with our company's executives) like "seamless integration." What does that mean? To my company execs it means no more pain. No more money to be spent. We do XML right? Then why can't we import that document format today? What do you mean we can only handle certain XML standards - "the whole company thinks we do XML, and your telling me we don't!" This book is part of the "do XML B2B and get rich quick" fiasco of 2000. I like Charles Goldfarb, but he sold out to the wall street MBA types who have completely unrealistic expectations of what technology can and can not do.
Rating: 
Summary: Not really a Handbook
Review: A few years ago, I bought Dr Goldfarb's great "SGML Handbook". I thought "The XML Handbook" would be something similar. The book contains, roughly, 100 pages of introduction to XML; 250 pages of tutorials on XML and its subcultures; and almost 600 pages of corporate presentations, of varying quality, on various aspects of XML application and implementation. The introduction and tutorials, although good, didn't have the depth I was looking for. The corporate bit addresses a very broad range of interesting issues, with varying levels of detail, but never enough to "solve the problem". So for me, the signal-to-noise ratio was pretty low. Let me give an example of a major gap in the book's coverage: I had hoped to gain much more insight into the relative merits of using attributes as against using element content; but I finished the book no wiser than when I started (other than having seen some examples where I disagreed with the approach taken). The CD-ROMs didn't add much value, either: the web has moved on very rapidly. To add to my disappointment, the production of the book is not of a high standard. - The rendering of low-level headings leaves a lot to be desired (Ex: I looked at 33.2.2.6.4 on page 480 for fully 30 seconds before understanding that it was a heading). So does that of block quotes, which appear to run on to the following paragraph. - Many footnotes on a left-hand page with callouts on the previous page make reading a chore (Ex: fn #2 on pp 59 and 60). There is a general disdain for any attempt to keep figures on the same left-right page pair as their references. - It might have been less irritating, too, to use a single numbering space for all Figures, Examples, Tables, and Spec Excerpts, rather than obliging the reader to work out the sometimes subtle difference between "Example 8-1" and "Figure 8-1". This book, I understand from the Preface, was itself prepared using XML. Unfortunately, good markup for publishing is of little use without excellent rendering. I got a strong impression of unseemly haste to get the book out before getting the rendering up to scratch. So readability was badly crippled (unlike The SGML Handbook). One last damn. So far, I've read the book just once. Although I'm kind to books, the cover is already dog-eared and de-laminating. It probably doesn't matter, because, in contrast to "The SGML Handbook", reading this book a second time won't add anything. That's another reason I think it wrong to call it a Handbook. More in sorrow than in anger, then: two stars for Dr. Goldfarb, zero for Prentice-Hall.
Rating:
Summary: Not really a Handbook
Review: A few years ago, I bought Dr Goldfarb's great "SGML Handbook". I thought "The XML Handbook" would be something similar. The book contains, roughly, 100 pages of introduction to XML; 250 pages of tutorials on XML and its subcultures; and almost 600 pages of corporate presentations, of varying quality, on various aspects of XML application and implementation. The introduction and tutorials, although good, didn't have the depth I was looking for. The corporate bit addresses a very broad range of interesting issues, with varying levels of detail, but never enough to "solve the problem". So for me, the signal-to-noise ratio was pretty low. Let me give an example of a major gap in the book's coverage: I had hoped to gain much more insight into the relative merits of using attributes as against using element content; but I finished the book no wiser than when I started (other than having seen some examples where I disagreed with the approach taken). The CD-ROMs didn't add much value, either: the web has moved on very rapidly. To add to my disappointment, the production of the book is not of a high standard. - The rendering of low-level headings leaves a lot to be desired (Ex: I looked at 33.2.2.6.4 on page 480 for fully 30 seconds before understanding that it was a heading). So does that of block quotes, which appear to run on to the following paragraph. - Many footnotes on a left-hand page with callouts on the previous page make reading a chore (Ex: fn #2 on pp 59 and 60). There is a general disdain for any attempt to keep figures on the same left-right page pair as their references. - It might have been less irritating, too, to use a single numbering space for all Figures, Examples, Tables, and Spec Excerpts, rather than obliging the reader to work out the sometimes subtle difference between "Example 8-1" and "Figure 8-1". This book, I understand from the Preface, was itself prepared using XML. Unfortunately, good markup for publishing is of little use without excellent rendering. I got a strong impression of unseemly haste to get the book out before getting the rendering up to scratch. So readability was badly crippled (unlike The SGML Handbook). One last damn. So far, I've read the book just once. Although I'm kind to books, the cover is already dog-eared and de-laminating. It probably doesn't matter, because, in contrast to "The SGML Handbook", reading this book a second time won't add anything. That's another reason I think it wrong to call it a Handbook. More in sorrow than in anger, then: two stars for Dr. Goldfarb, zero for Prentice-Hall.
Rating: 
Summary: As good as XML
Review: A very measured book, experienced people behind. Great. Are you one of those guys that takes seriously computer technology?, then oh!, get outta here... ;) Yes, this could damage your circuits. It's a very normal and so uncommon book, it reflect's perfectly what XML is, no more, no less, it has some reference chapters very interesting reading/feedbacking, good letter size, slightly complex (as XML...no more haha!).... .... and slightly quiet, with a lot of gold dust no worth reading more than up to you are at the point of saying this is what they think of XML, and I have personal my POV. Sure is not complex in a way that makes you feel XMLtized, but perhaps interested, some way... I'm sure you have a HTML book or a javascript reference at home bigger than this. Nowadays we are supposed to be more mature....
Rating: 
Summary: Good combination of Theory, Practice, and Tutorial
Review: Although this book isn't very comprehensive in the turtorial part, it provides very solid foundations on the XML theories and practices. I've read other XML books and still bought this book. It seems to me that this book is more oriented to the management level, however, it's always good to "think" and "analyze" more and not just blindly code (or copy). To gain the expert's insight alone is worth the price. And the chapter on teaching how to read the XML specifications is really helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Evangelizing book
Review: Everybody is writing a book about XML. This is one of the more substantial books. The book has many contributors but is edited with a unified vocabulary. The editors were involved in the design of SGML and XML. The main purpose of the book is to evangelize XML. Why XML will take over the world or at least the world wide web. How SGML already keeps the airlines flying. Watch out for SGML when you read about crash investigations.
There are some technical details in the book. It explains that a comment between <!-- and --> must not contain -- inside. It explains how to imbed scripts in XML between <![CDATA[ and ]]>. It explains that imbedded script must not contain ]]>. It notices that this sequence could easily occur in JavaScript: a[b[2]]>0.
I think that these observations call for the redesign of the language, not for evangelizing it. A markup language designed for embedding scripts should have a user defined termination sequence like 'here document' in programming languages for working programmers. It should also have comments that could be nested. It should have more flexible ways to define string literals, like Perl. I think the design of SGML and XML was driven by the needs of language processor writers, not by the needs of the users of the language. Are Perl programmers willing to put up with these constraints?
Rating:
Summary: handbook not technical reference
Review: I too bought this book thinking that it would bring me into the world of XML. I had no previous recommendation and I thought hey! it's by the creator. After reading 70 odd pages on the background and the application of XML I was chomping at the bit for some syntax diagrams but no, you gotta wait for chapter 31 (page 423). Hmmm. If you want to learn XML and XML only buy another book. If you want a complete run-down on XML use in the industry plus the XML spec then go ahead and buy this.
Rating:
Summary: Average Book, Above Average XML Book
Review: Publishers are spewing out XML books, and most of them are unfocused and hastily written. This book, by two of the biggest names in SGML, rises above other XML books and contains some important ideas for finally realizing on the promise of SGML/XML. Unfortunately, many of the book's 61 chapters are "sponsored" by vendors trying to peddle XML products by contributing the text from their marketing brochures for use in the book. The result is a somewhat disorganized and overly commercial presentation of XML. Nevertheless, the book is worth purchasing over others on XML.
Rating:
Summary: decent
Review: The tutorials are very good although the book seems mostly to be a product review with the reviews written by the companys whose products they are.
Rating:
Summary: Not really an introduction or a handbook.
Review: There are far better books, that cost less, are more concise and
reveal a lot more about XML and the impact it is starting to have on
society. If you are a programmer seeking a technical guide, this is
not for you either.
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