Special Edition Using XML (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

David Gulbransen (Author), Kynn Bartlett (Author), Earl Bingham (Author), Alexander Kachur (Author), Kenrick Rawlings (Author), Andrew H. Watt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 078972748X | ISBN-13: 978-0789727480 | Publication Date: July 26, 2002 | Edition: 2

Special Edition Using XML, Second Edition gives developers a formal introduction to XML technology, starting with in-depth coverage of basic syntax and fundamental "pieces" of XML, including DTDs, Schemas, and Namespaces. The authors then cover various applications of XML, including transforming and displaying XML documents using CSS and XSL, locating data within XML documents using Xpath, Xlink and Xpointer, programming XML with SAX or DOM, including XML in Java or .NET applications, XML Scripting with Perl, XHTML and WML for presentation on traditional and hand-held Web browsers, and querying data or documents with Xquery. The final chapters cover technologies related to XML such as SVG, SMIL, and RDF, focusing on the practical features developers can put to use today.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Special Edition Using XML, Second Edition gives developers a formal introduction to XML technology, starting with indepth coverage of basic syntax and fundamental "pieces" of XML, including DTDs, Schemas, and Namespaces. The authors then cover various applications of XML, including transforming and displaying XML documents using CSS and XSL, locating data within XML documents using Xpath, Xlink and Xpointer, programming XML with SAX or DOM, including XML in Java or .NET applications, XML Scripting with Perl, XHTML and WML for presentation on traditional and handheld Web browsers, and querying data or documents with Xquery. The final chapters cover technologies related to XML such as SVG, SMIL, and RDF, focusing on the practical features developers can put to use today.

About the Author

David Gulbransen is the CEO of Vervet Logic, an XML tools development company. More than 5,000 businesses have licensed XML Pro, their XML editor, including The European Union, the Library of Congress, IBM, Prudential, Intel, Cisco Systems, New York Life, Harvard University, and Purdue University. More than 30,000 developers receive Vervet's newsletters. David has been involved with XML since before there was a standard, shipping the final version of XML Pro as XML 1.0 was made final. Today Vervet's strategic partnerships include IBM, Sun, BlueStone, Siber Logic, and OpenText. His most recent book was Special Edition Using XML Schema.

Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Que; 2 edition (July 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078972748X
• ISBN-13: 978-0789727480
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,814,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Contains technical errors and omissions, October 17, 2002

By 

Kulero (Roswell, GA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Edition Using XML (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This book covers a wide breadth of topics in XML, without going thoroughly into the depths of any one topic. It often refers the reader to other materials for depth information. This is as it should be, but then the byline "The ONLY XML book you need" is somewhat dishonest marketing; they should remove it.

Second, _Using XML_ has quite a few typographical errors. So far I've found more than one per 10 pages, more than I'd expect for a Second Edition book.

Far worse, the book contains technical errors and is not clear on important points. As an example of the first grievance, p. 44 states that PCDATA cannot contain <, >, and / characters. In fact, it cannot contain "<" or "&"; ">" can legally appear, but should be escaped for compatibility with SGML, and "/" is just fine. An example on p. 94 puts comments before <?xml ...?>, yet the xml prolog must occur first in any document (even before whitespace). Mr. Gulbransen should know that. Page 91 uses an unparsed entity inline, violating Well-Formedness Constraint: Parsed Entity. And the example soc="123-00-1234" p. 83 violates Validity Constraint: ID, because a SSN is not a valid Name. Having found all these technical errors in the areas of XML I do know, how can I trust this book to correctly teach me things I don't know?

I also can't say the book is very clear in places where I want it to be. After pp. 130-133, I should know how to associate XML Schemas with XML documents. Instead, I can only blindly follow the example; I surely don't understand what is the role of each of the components, especially of the URI ending with "/contact".

Due to technical inaccuracies and occasional lack of clarity, I cannot recommend this book. I would like to find an XML reference which is similarly broad in scope, yet both clear and correct in its details.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good & Bad, December 15, 2004

By 

Dwght Lemaire (Brampton, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Edition Using XML (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Well, I was tempted to pick this book up for sometime. It seemed to read very well and is chocked full of helpful examples - at least to me. Eventually I gave in and bought it. Oh yah, there was no CD but hey, all that stuff is available on the Web right? Well apparently, not in this case. And especially for a book written by authors with such distinguished credentials - Mr. Gulbransen et al ... not to mention a reputable publishing house - QUE ( they have produced good works in the past ) I have been unable in my efforts to unturn a single piece of code for this book.

Ironically, the helpfull ( we want your feedback ) page that Que places in all it's books was , well useless. Someone named Candy Hall did reply, only if it was to say - No! So the email trail looked like this:

Attention:

Alexander Kachur

Hi Alexander,

I bought this wonderful book
done by Que entitled:

Using XML (second edition) by David Gulbransen, et al ...

Well, it didn't come with a CD

so naturally I was expecting to be directed
to some web page where I could download
the examples discussed in the book.

Can you help me out. and tell me just
what the URL is for that download page?

I visited your website but did not see any such
link ...

and when I sent an email off to Que Publishing
as identified in the forward for the book,

the response from Candy Hall was not
encouraging. This is what I got:

Thank you for your email about Special Edition Using XML. I'm glad you like
the book. Unfortunately the code for this book is not available for
download.
Candy Hall

Well, the declaration on the front of the book reads:
" The only xml book you need "
fine, it's a great book, but I need the code ...

If you can possibly point me to where I can
download this or email me a zipped archive
I would truly appreciate your help.

Thanking You
in advance

Dwight Lemaire

Alexander Kachur

Hi Alexander,

I bought this wonderful book
done by Que entitled:

Using XML (second edition) by David Gulbransen, et al ...

Well, it didn't come with a CD

so naturally I was expecting to be directed
to some web page where I could download
the examples discussed in the book.

Can you help me out. and tell me just
what the URL is for that download page?

I visited your website but did not see any such
link ...

and when I sent an email off to Que Publishing
as identified in the forward for the book,

the response from Candy Hall was not
encouraging. This is what I got:

Thank you for your email about Special Edition Using XML. I'm glad you like
the book. Unfortunately the code for this book is not available for
download.
Candy Hall

Well, the declaration on the front of the book reads:
" The only xml book you need "
fine, it's a great book, but I need the code ...

If you can possibly point me to where I can
download this or email me a zipped archive
I would truly appreciate your help.

Thanking You
in advance

Dwight Lemaire

............. Well, Alexander never answered because
I kept getting Mail Administrator responses saying the
plug was pulled on his email.

In spite of the apparently all negative reviews on-line
about things like content, and gross inaccuraies, I find
there are salvaging comments to make about this book.
Essentially, it works for me .... however, there is no Code
to be found for it anywhere. Gulbransen cannot be contacted.
Que denies any code is available for this book. Well, what did
they use to put it together anyway? This spoils everyone's
reputation for excellence in providing information and follow-ups doesn't it? In conclusion, Gulbransen and el should be shamed into leaving this work as is. Que should be shamed of providing no support ( inspite of the friendly teaser page).
Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame.

At times like these, one really appreciates an Oreilly Text. I'll never stray again ..