Customer Reviews

Applied XML: A Toolkit for Programmers

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A very badly written book, with lots of superflous and often self-serving text and a truly terrible writing style. Finding the useful information amongst all the noise is difficult - the book could easily be reduced to half the number of pages.

Despite claims to the contrary, the authors are very biased towards Microsoft. Every chapter contains the phrase "MS IE5 is the only browser to support XML" several times.

The Simple API for XML (SAX) an event driven API which is particularly important for handling large and very large documents, is relegated to a two line entry in the glossary of this 450 page book - this surely has nothing to do with the fact that Microsoft doesn't support SAX.

Finally, in the section on XSL the book describes the deprecated order-by tag, which is available in IE5, which is OK, but then does not even describe the replacement "sort" tag.

The examples are trivial, and not at all suited to an industrial environment. The authors show their limited understanding of the requirements of industrial or business critical applications. The examples concentrate mainly on the client (more Microsoftery), whereas it is probable that most XML manipulation will occur on the server.

Better books are available and I regret spending my money on this one.

It is surprising to me that the publishers would allow a book with this many blatent errors on the shelf. The typos alone are enough to detract from the message. The number of technical errors is unforgivable. I also wonder which *reader* took the time to write the author's autobiography as a review. Especially when the book was not yet available. I also think it is interesting that the only glowing reviews seem to have the same grammatical mistakes evident in the text...Don't waste your money.

The book is better than average, when compared with other XML books. Unfortunately it is full of technical errors and typos. The most glaring errors are in the DOM section. For example, on page 140 the authors list different types of nodes, and claim that NodeList and NamedNodeMap are nodes. This is not correct, as can be seen from the definitions of the NodeList and NamedNodeMap interfaces on page 444 (Java DOM Binding, Appendix B). NodeList and NamedNodeMap do not extend Node, and therefore do not offer the same behavior (methods) as offered by, for example, an Element which is a Node. The example on page 123 is not a valid XML document, since the parameter entities are only declared, but not referenced in the internal DTD subset. Semicolons are missing in all the parameter entity references on page 122. On page 82, when entities are first encountered in the book, they are defined as, units of text. This is misleading since entities can also be files with binary data (unparsed entities). There are many other similar errors and typos. The DOMifier utility included with the book is very useful for beginners. The XML parser, at least in the version included with the book, is not very useful, since it gives strange error messages even when reading perfectly good (but slightly complex) DTD files. A more robust and validating version would be extremely useful.

Admittedly, I was looking for a book targeted to professional programmers, but this book isn't really even good for a novice. The first section is virtually worthless. The second is better, but web resources are better, more thorough, and the information is much more accessible among the verbiage. I too bought the book based on the breathless 5-star reviews, and was offended at being duped. If you are a professional programmer then spend your time on the W3C or even the Microsoft websites. You'll learn what you need a lot faster and more accurately, not to mention cheaper.

I've been trying to find a book that dedicated time on DOM. Finally, a book who know's what it is and how to use it. I originally bought this book thinking there was three chapters on DOM, I was delighted to see that there were 7 chapters. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to know how to use XML. The only thing keeping this book from 5 stars are the technical typos. Nice book but not all encompassing.

I bought this book, a while ago, based on the glowing reviews it received from the first few reviewers. As others have mentioned since then, the book is replete with typos, very IE biased, and, most of all, I have found it lacking in information. In addition, I don't care for their overly cheeky style of writing.

This book lacks clarity . Looks very vague at times. The explanation on DTD makes the subject more difficult to understand. Unfortunately i am in no position to suggest a better book. For basic understanding of XML , IBM website is a good resource.

The physical layout and apperance of the book is also a detterent.

This book - for all of its limitations, errors, etc - is still amongst the best applications books I have read.

The book is full of good examples of how to apply XML. The authors explain XML with relative clarity and humor.

If you are fairly experienced with XML, then this book is not for you. You will find the things covered to be too elementary.

However, if you want a good, decently-written book that can also be used as a reference book, then this is definitely the book you want to own.

I own two other XML books and find this one to be the only one worth re-reading, much less keeping.

As the other reviewers state, there are errors. However, I find most application books contain errors (why is it the indexes are NEVER right?) and this one appears to have fewer of them.

The book lives up to its title. This book is a must for XML developers using either the Microsoft MSXML or other platforms. Contains excellent XML DOM description and interface references. I found good working examples right here without wading through hundereds of pages of theory.

An ok book, but not 5-star. IE5's XML implementation is not pure and the book covers the IE5 implementation. How does a book get 4 5-star rating before its available?