Early Adopter Xquery [Paperback]

Dan Maharry (Author), Rogerio Saran (Author), Kurt Cagle (Author), Mark Fussell (Author), Nalleli Lopez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2002

Working it's way towards W3C Recommendation status sometime in 2002, the XQuery language and associated specifications are the biggest project to date from the World Wide Web Consortium since it ratified XML in 1998. XQuery is to XML data as SQL is to data in relational databases and more - a single syntax that allows us to specify queries on structured XML data, independent of how and on what platform it is stored, and return the results as XML in a structure of your choosing. It is also one of the first large scale attempts to get the various W3C specifications in line with each other, uniting the XSL, XQuery, and XML Schema working groups in its creation.

Early Adopter XQuery presents the facts about this ambitious new technology, covering its history and development to date, and what changes might occur in the future before it is ratified. We present easy-to-follow introductions to the XQuery language for those already familiar with SQL and XSLT that others can follow too and a look at the early implementations of XQuery that exist around the internet. In particular, we look at .NET and Java classes which you can use to incorporate XQuery into your own work and a basic case study demonstrating how to build your own XQuery engine.

What does this book cover?

The History of XQuery, its predecessors and how to work with the current set of XQuery documents
The XQuery Data Model, Formal Semantics and Use Cases
XQuery from a SQL perspective
XQuery from an XSLT/XML perspective
The current set of XQuery implementations available today, in particular Microsoft's .NET classes for XQuery and FatDog's Java implementation
How to set about building your own XQuery engine

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is for database and XML developers, preferably with a knowledge of SQL or XSLT, who want to get familiar with and keep track of what will be an industry standard once complete. This book was written against the Summer 2001 working drafts but the generic nature of the book means that it should be valid through to Recommendation status. XQuery is platform-independent and we have reflected this in the book by not limiting our discussions to any one operating system.

About the Author

Daniel Maharry currently lives in Birmingham where he has worked for Wrox Press - both there and in India - for three and a half years as an itinerant editor and diarist with a penchant for the obscure topics. With any luck, this tome will see him starting to come out of that particular malaise. At some point, he will take the under construction sign off hmobius.com and put something there of note.

Kurt Cagle is an author and developer with Cagle Communications, specializing in XML web technologies, open source, and computational ethics. He is the author or co-author of more than twelve books covering XML and XSLT, SVG, multimedia and web programming, and is a regular columnist for XML Magazine. He can be reached vie email at [e-mail] and has a web site of XSLT and SVG related code at kurtcagle.net.

Nalleli (pronounced Nah-yéh-lee) holds a degree in Business and Economics from Wheaton College and is currently completing a Masters of Science in Software Engineering at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. She speaks three languages and has traveled extensively. She may be contacted at [e-mail]

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press; 1st edition (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861006950
• ISBN-13: 978-1861006950
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,045,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ironic Authority, February 15, 2002

By 

Muhammad A. Siddigi-Aslam (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Adopter Xquery (Paperback)

When i read the author listing and their occupations, after i had purchased this book ... i was a bit furious at myself, as if i had wasted money in quenching my thirst for this new language based on XML. Unlikely, the book is very well authored and gives references to vendors and tools that provide hands on experience of this new language and makes it rather less formidable for a person trying to grasp the specs (which are already numerous enough to confuse you when you look into XML technology). In short, provides considerable in depth to serve the purpose of deciding to go this way or not ... at the same time it demonstrates and teaches the language (as minimum and limited as it is currently) in a exemplary way, so in my opinion it strikes a good balance between the theory and examples it provides. Infact focuses more on examples and practicality, if you are really interetsed in using this language somewhere down the road i would advise to get this book than rather scratch your head over its specs a W3C for long periods of time.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not much useful, November 6, 2002

By 

DA DINH (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Adopter Xquery (Paperback)

Not much info you can get from this book. Maybe it was published too early?