XML unmasked... but at a cost
The book is well-written and the examples striking in showing the power of XML. However, the reader must be ready to troubleshoot the examples, both in the book and on the CD. They are fraught with mistakes, both in construct and format; such as case-sensitivity errors in tags (unforgivable in XML). If you learn by doing, this is the book for you, because you'll do it twice; first by typing then by correcting. However, it's still worth the 4 stars.
Mixed Blessing in Studying XML with This Book
Currently an XML learner, I find this book quite helpful because of its vivid and interesting examples, which are rarely found in other resourses. On the other hand, this book contains a host of editing errors, which, to some extent, CAN test your XML knowledge hard-learnt so far from the book.
If these editing errors are revised in the next edition, I think I will give the book four to five stars.
XML Troubleshooting required for this book
Having been in a hurry to learn XML for Macromedia Studio MX 2004, I paid the price by purchasing this book without first researching it.
The examples, as they are in the book, are fraught with errors.
Likewise, I found some discrepencies between the book example and the same example from the included CD-ROM indicating that the book had been revised while the CD had not or vice-versa.
However, the history of XML and how it came to be and has evolved over the years, as well as the included CD-ROM which does include WORKING examples, forced me to give this 3 stars.
Lesson learned. Do the research on this book before buying it and just know that the CD-ROM included with this book has the correct working examples.
Kudos to the author!
This maybe the most well put together book in the market relating to XML. I thoroughly enjoyed every page/tutorial in this book. The author did a phenomenal job at being as descriptive as possible... While not making you yawn in boredom (as other books on this topic tend to do). The Dreamweaver section was outstanding. I learned a lot in this section of the book, as well as some great tips. The Flash portion could have been a little stronger... or more in-depth... but again an outstanding job by the author.
Expand Your Job Skills!
Kevin's book starts with an explanation of why we should learn XML. One of the most compelling reasons is that "your job opportunities will expand and your productivity will increase if you have an understanding of the basics." Based on what I see in my own workplace and the concept that XML provides "a file format in which you can store data without regard to future technologies," I agree with his assessment.Does his book help you learn XML?
He dives right in with explanations, samples and tutorials so that you can see what XML does. The basics of writing XML and DTD's (Document Type Definition) are covered as though he's in the room talking to you. I had the feeling he was anticipating my questions, persuading me to write well-formed XML.
The presentation style of providing samples and walking though tutorials made me want to pull out the accompanying CD and jump right in. Dreamweaver MX and XSL-T for style sheet design is covered right away. In Advanced Topics part two, XML and ColdFusion MX for dynamic web pages are covered. A fascinating use for this technology is to build pages that respond to changes made by the user. The examples of ColdFusion code are easy enough for beginners to walk through and for experienced CF programmers to grasp right away. Using ColdFusion query objects and queries of queries, we're shown how to convert and manipulate XML documents. Definitely a must for CFer's!
Since I do limited graphic design, I skipped over the chapter on Fireworks MX and XML, but the pictures looked enticing enough for me to bookmark them for later reading.
Macromedia Flash MX 2004 is recommended for the most robust XML support and the goal of the last chapter is to help developers and designers to be comfortable with XML and Flash MX. Sample files dive right in to writing ActionScript to display text from an XML file in Flash MX movies.
Objectives are clearly stated at the beginning of each tutorial. The writing is clear, concise, and friendly. This book definitely provides stepping stones to building files that work with XML, whether your Macromedia MX tools are design or code-based.
After reviewing this book, I'm already planning my first professional ventures and wondering if Kevin will follow up with more. I'm sure that if you pick up this book, you'll be brought up to speed on working with XML quickly and efficiently in a variety of formats.
Lisa J. Wilson, SacCFUG Manager
