Definitive VoiceXML [Paperback]

Adam Hocek (Author), David Cuddihy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Charles F. Goldfarb Definitive XML Series | Publication Date: November 21, 2002

Definitive VoiceXML was written to bridge the knowledge gap between the disparate worlds of telephony engineering and enterprise computing. Most VoiceXML books are written like any other programming book on a new technology-a few example programs and lots of command reference material -- and don't provide the depth of information needed for telephony applications. Enterprise information system developers traditionally know very little about the nuts-and-bolts problems of developing a voice application, while telephony application developers rarely understand enterprise information systems. To successfully develop voice applications, technology professionals will need to become proficient in both disciplines. With this book, readers will learn in detail about the VoiceXML language, how it can be used to develop enterprise-level voice applications, and how to integrate VoiceXML with other enterprise technologies. The audience will also learn about other related voice processing technologies and how to they are used with VoiceXML. This will be one of the first books to cover the completed vxml 2.0 specification, which is still in the final stages before its release.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The start-to-finish guide to building enterprise-class VoiceXML applications.

• Code examples and UML diagrams provided for each VoiceXML element
• Fully developed VoiceXML applications using Java servlets, JSP, and .NET
• Detailed coverage of text-to-speech and automatic speech recognition technologies

"XML is not a spoken language, but thanks to VoiceXML, it is the language of choice for developing spoken interfaces. If you want to voice-enable your applications and Web sites, this book speaks your language."—Charles F. Goldfarb

Definitive VoiceXML bridges the gap between enterprise computing and telephony engineering, demonstrating exactly how to build new enterprise-class voice applications and voice-enable existing applications. It's the first book that delivers the depth and breadth of knowledge needed by both enterprise and telephony developers, thoroughly addressing the unique challenges of building voice systems for business.

• VoiceXML in depth: its role, goals, and key techniques
• Effective ways to architect and integrate enterprise voice applications
• Detailed case studies utilizing VoiceXML, Java servlets, JSP, and .NET
• Thorough coverage of the W3C VXML 2.0 standard
• Speech Recognition Grammar Format (SRGF) and Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML)
• Complete VoiceXML language reference

Whether you're developing systems for customer service, finance, travel, wireless commerce, or anything else, Definitive VoiceXML gives you the proven techniques you need to maximize performance, reliability, and ROI.

Part of The Charles F. Goldfarb Definitive XML Series

About the Author

ADAM HOCEK has more than 20 years of engineering experience in telephony hardware and software, digital signal processing, and speech processing. At Broadstrokes, Inc., he specializes in developing Java and XML systems to facilitate multidevice communication and collaboration. DAVID CUDDIHY is a professional software engineer specializing in the areas of genomics, signal processing, audio recognition, and object-oriented software architecture and design. He currently develops VoiceXML-based interactive voice applications for Tell-Eureka Corp. About the Series Editor Charles F. Goldfarb is the father of XML technology. He invented SGML, the Standard Generalized Markup Language on which both XML and HTML are based. You can find him on the Web at www.xmlbooks.com.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1st edition (November 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130463450
• ISBN-13: 978-0130463456
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #352,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superior book on VoiceXML and Voice Technologies, October 29, 2003

By 

S. FRANKO (Smithfield, RI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Definitive VoiceXML (Paperback)

I seldom write reviews for books on Amazon, but I just had to do it for this excellent book. This book is by far the best resource for building enterprise caliber voice applications. I have purchased 5 other VXML books and none of them delivers the information that this book does. This book not only delivered the content I needed, but it's comprehensive and deals with complex issues in a simplified fashion. The real highlights of this book are Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 explains Enterprise applications, possible architectures for dealing with state, and interacting with a backend. Chapter 5 deals with more of a deployment and physical architectural angle. Get it for those two chapters alone.

The only thing that I found missing was techniques for versioning a voice application (No not the CVS source-code control type versioning). I mean having the same backend server provide different content to the same voice browser and techniques on structuring your application to smoothly transition from one set of content to another. For example, the voice browser cache is full of old static content - how can I gracefully switch to new content without forcing a dump of the existing cache through the HTTP headers or some other external mechanism - It has to do with using relative pathing beneath the application root document for vxml scripts and static content. Some information about Browser to Browser interactions might also be nice - but I recognize the VBI specs are just emerging.

Anyway, anyone thinking of building a real voice application with speech recognition and integration to backend applications and data should definitely add this book to their library. It has helped me tremendously. Two thumbs up!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my better tech book buys, February 7, 2003

By 

Oscar I. Camejo (Leonia, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Definitive VoiceXML (Paperback)

This book is really two books in one. A VXML tutorial and an overview of all the technologies used to build voice applications. The authors, in the overview portions, have presented detailed information yet have made it manageable enough to allow the reader to gain a good hold of the material without getting lost in the detail. Where the book really stands out though is in the VXML tutorial. The tutorial is written in a layered fashion in which the basic concepts are presented before moving on to the next more advanced feature. At each step an example is used to help make the concepts concrete. I loved the fact that the authors never underestimate the my intelligence nor did they seek to impress the me with their advanced knowledge. I was very happy to find this in a recently published technical book. I was able to move quickly though the tutorial building on the example presented. I bought the book hoping to come up to speed on new voice application technologies having been out of that field for many years. The book has done that and I consider it one of my better tech book buys.