Editorial Reviews:
The Web is a landmark in the evolution of Internet information systems because its lingua franca allows authors to say what they mean, rather than merely how to say it. W3C's new eXtensible Markup Language (XML) carries that torch forward to a new generation of information services. The shift to XML will unleash a diverse range of new applications, including mathematical equation structures, databases, new metainformation systems, new browser and client tools, and style sheets for new XML tags. This issue of the Web Journal is your first look at the technical specifications and early applications of a new data format that will rock every aspect of the Web: markup, linking, and exchange. Guest editor Daniel Connolly, W3C's architecture domain leader, is an ideal guide, having pioneered the very notion of standardizing HTML as an application of SGML (Standardized General Markup Language). Includes articles by XML specification authors Jon Bosak, Tim Bray, and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen; Ted Nelson; Rohit Khare; and Dan Connolly.
With article titles like "The Web Is Ruined and I Ruined It" (a rumination on "HTML terrorism"), Dan Connolly has assembled an amusing and well-paced commentary on XML. XML: Principles, Tools, and Techniques is not strictly a tutorial. However, as Connolly outlines in the introduction, this book attempts to cover "the complete technical specification, primers, implementation case studies, applications, and even historical and philosophical reflections on the emerging role of XML." XML: Principles, Tools, and Techniques is an insider's trove of articles such as Michael Leventhal's, "XML: Can the Desperate Perl Hacker Do It?" This thorough collection also contains articles covering a wide variety of topics relevant to XML implementation: Perl, MathML, cascading style sheets (CSS), Lark, Java Universal Markup Language (JUMBO) and Web Interface Definition Language (WIDL).
Customer Reviews:
 Probably the best thing out there
This was the first XML text I bought back in 1998 and I found it to be great. It is a shame that it is out of print (like O'Reilly's excellent DCE books).  Not a Good Introduction - Search for something else.
If you are looking for a book to introduce you to XML, this is not the one. This book is basically a bunch of papers and articles slammed together and sold as a book. It doesn't have any continuity or proper flow. Every paper tries to introduce XML in a different way, which leaves the reader confused and disappointed. I will be looking for another book.
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