XML Developer's Guide [Paperback]

Fabio Arciniegas (Author)

Book Description

Series: Application Development | Publication Date: December 21, 2000

Analysts at Giga Information Group state that large companies pursuing an Internet strategy are seeking out ways to use XML. The lure of easier communication and data transfer, internally through intranets or directly to their web consumers, is hard to resist. Companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, SUN Microsystems, and IBM are a part of setting the industry standards for XML This is a comprehensive guide to XML for intermediate to advanced professional developers. It provides hands-on coverage of Web publishing and exchanging data with XML, as well as emerging XML standards, including XSLT, XPath, and Xlink, and addressing key issues of planning and quality assurance measures. The CD-ROM contains XML parsers, sample code, XML editors and mangers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A Complete Resource for Developing Applications Using XML

Create powerful and efficient XML applications and highly flexible document structures with help from this comprehensive guidebook. Addressing the full scope of XML technologies and their presentation--including wireless XML (WAP, VoiceXML, and more) --this book is packed with real-world examples and thorough coverage of the language and related technologies. Ideal for intermediate to advanced professional Web developers, this hands-on resource covers Web publishing and data exchange with XML, emerging XML standards--including Schemas, XSLT, XPath, and XLink--and much more.

• Create flexible document structures using XML
• Add source content to XML documents
• Understand and implement XML-database relationships
• Determine XML document retrieval
• Address quality assurance issues
• Understand how XML is being used today

Important coverage includes:

• XML overview
• Document structure--including syntax and other rules
• Tools and complementary technologies
• Web publishing with XML
• Parsing and delivering HTML and XML
• Data exchange and adding source content to documents

And, the CD-ROM contains sample code, XML editors and parsers, which will save you hundreds of hours of development time. No other book can offer you the same combination of expert coverage and practical advice as this authoritative developer’s guide.

About the Author

Benjamin Moore (Plymouth, MN)is a programming/development consultant with Micro Modeling, heading up the company's Enterprise Solutions Group. Ben has developed several XML solutions, including a cross-platform communication mechanism for an e-commerce site and severak corporate intranet sites. Ben also has his MCSE, MCSD, MCP (Visual Basic, Access & Excel), and is an MCT in several development technologies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies (December 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072126485
• ISBN-13: 978-0072126488
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,542,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Accurate, Complete, and Thoughtful Exposition, January 20, 2001

By 

Clark C. Evans (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: XML Developer's Guide (Paperback)

This text focuses on software construction. Key technologies are illustrated by example in Java, explained using design patterns, and accompanied by UML diagrams. Arciniegas opens the book with a succinct expression of XML fundamentals such as namespaces and DTDs. Following is professional coverage of the core technologies: SAX2, DOM2, XPath, XLink, XPointer, XSLT, XML Schemas. This text also explores Wireless applications, XML-RPC, and database integration. While many surveys are stuffed with specification detail or pointless listings, this book is suprisingly low-fat. The case studies (two complete applications) are my favorite part. It is refreshing to see actual analysis and design in a book of this type. Highly recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 70/30 Rule, Wait for next, edition, July 2, 2001

By 

Robert Leland (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: XML Developer's Guide (Paperback)

Heartened by the glowing reviews I bough this book from Amazon. After --reading-- the first half of the book, and studying the examples, I was disappointed at the hastily written, and unproofed examples such as :

Page 18

<list>

<product> (Content deleted ....)

<product> <--------- This should be </product>

<list> <---------- This should be </list>

At first I thought an editor had 'corrected' these examples, however there are other places: Chapter 5 Page 115, QuadTreeViewer.Java

// Ask the creator to make a quadtree out of an XML file

try {

Quadtree myTree = myDirector.readFromXMLFile("filename");

}

catch (CreationException e){

System.out.println ("Unable to create quadtree from " +

filename);

}

Note readFromXMLFile("filename") is clearly a bug. If I can't trust an author to check to make sure a program is correct, how can I trust that he has verified that what he says is correct? I checked on his CD and the source code was the same. There are automated tools out there for making sure programs inside of document compile, and are tested,so there are just no excuses. One author I rely on is Bruce Eckel. He has an engaging writing style and automated tools to assure that code compiles, and JUnit tested. There are other gripes like missing files on the CD, etc.

The author did have a good section about good design patterns to use when working with SAX, and common pitfalls.

Since the author doesn't credit anyone in the introduction I assume that it had very little technical review, and it shows. I will continue using this book as a occasional reference. Also note that the webb site listed for errants has been deactivated.

70% of the work is completed in 30% of the time. Because of the may mistakes in the examples, I wouldn't recommend this book for beginners, look else where. For the intermediate programmer who can quickly spot the many code/technical mistakes I would say go to your local book store and personally browse this book BEFORE buying it.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, February 3, 2001

By 

"rcasalla" (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: XML Developer's Guide (Paperback)

This is a great book about XML. It covers almost every XML-related available technology in a very well integrated way. The examples are pertinent, complete and useful. It is not a presentation of specifications but a big tutorial of how using these technologies to develop real applications. Without doubt this book should be a reference for XML developers.