Not for curious folk!
I'm a web developer who knows both HTML and CSS. I bought this book wondering what the world of XML could be about. I was told that it was the "future" of the internet or something. I browsed some online tutorials, and found that this was not just some simple language you could learn in a couple weeks. As I opened the book, I started reading the introduction. The beginning of the book is very interesting because St. Laurent gets into much detail about where XML came from and the roots of practically every language it derived from (like C). But as I read on into the book, he was very wordy. this book needed a CD-ROM with it. The language itself is very simple. But there are many rules that you must follow. To a typical, experienced developer his language is probably most understandable. As I was reading about DTDs n such (i had to read it over a bzillion times) I got even more confused. Finally, I just decided to put it down. His explanations were NOT in layman's terms so the curious user could understand. True, he did give lengthy explanations, but it could be because I read it all during school in small snippets. I never tried out his onlione stuff he has pasted all over the book. What I'm saying is I don't think this book is for curious new users. Maybe users thatr understand all the basic stuff, then just wanna use it as a reference or be told why exactly something does something. A user said earlier that he doesn't leave the reader guessing random code. Well, if you flip thru the back, you can see that the lengthy code pages offer tiny explanations. The IS a ton of code pages. Just thought I'd point that out. I would not recommend this book to anyone. The cheapest is not always the best.
Great Introduction
I first read this book a few years ago, and still read excerpts from it periodically as friends get involved. In one of the early chapters, St Laurent basically asserts that WYSIWYG was actually a technological setback. I knew at that point I was going to enjoy the book.If you're into computer science, and want to understand the technology - this is a great place to start.
Still the Best Place to Start
It's February 2001, and this book still does a better job of explaining what XML is all about than ones with a 2001 copyright date. St. Laurent's understanding of a Primer is right on target. Instead of having tons of code for the reader to cluelessly hammer out, he explains how XML works, and so when the reader does code the examples, he understands far better what's going on. The explanation of the Document Object Model is unmatched in any of the other books published on XML. Likewise, the crucial topic of Document Type Definitions (DTD) is handled far better and in intelligent detail than anything published since.Unfortunately, XML is deceptively complex. While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to crank up an XML file, toss in some CSS and claim XML is yet another programming language one has conquered, understanding how the DTD works requires more than a couple of examples and a reassuring pat on the shoulder that the reader can do it in an afternoon. What St. Laurent does, and does well, is to prepare the serious developer/programmer for understanding XML. To be sure, the book represents a foundation for using XML and is not an entire treatise on all that XML can do. However, unlike some of the books I've seen on XML that contain code that will not validate (including on their CD ROMs), this book gets it right. If you want to get XML right, this book is the place to start.
Update: This book is really bad. Get Beginning XML instead.
Data organization is XML's strength, making it an excellent mechanism for transfering information from one application to another -- whether it is a database, a legacy system, or a web site. Strangely, the author never really gets the point across.Even near the end of the book, the author only briefly mentions the XML parsing tool called SAX (the popular XML/Java API). Unfortunately, he fails to provide details on it use. SAX offers an easy way for computers to read an XML file and extract the data. Perl and Active Server Page APIs are also available for those who do not program in Java. But, data organization is only one of the strengths of XML. Many others exist. (The author misses these, too.)
This book is the worst technical book I've ever purchased. If it were feasible, I'd give it negative stars. If you are interested in learning AND using XML's capabilities, check out David Hunter's "Beginning XML". Compare the table of contents. You'll see the difference.
A very disappointing book for software developers
Some people appear to really like this book. It has received many glowing reviews, but I can only shake my head in disagreement. This book is a dud -- too much text, and not enough practical advise or code examples.The author could not adequately describe how to use basic XML components such as Document Type Definitions (DTDs), and failed to show how Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can be used to display XML on the web.
If you are a web programmer or need to do something useful with
XML, look elsewhere. This is not the book for you. In fact, I'm selling this book. Wanna buy it? I'll use the proceeds to purchase "Beginning XML" by Kurt Cagle. That book looks promising.
(27 reviews)
