Customer Reviews

XML Step by Step, Second Edition (Step By Step (Microsoft))

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book based on the reviews of the first edition. I generally like the book for its fast paced introduction to XML. However, I find some of the examples confusing and I do not like the way the author always has you jumping around to different pages for information. Furthermore, there are some pointers to other pages that are wrong. Also, alot of information is put in "sidebars". Some of these sidebars are multiple pages so I do not understand their purpose. I find myself referring to Holzner's "Inside XML" a good amount of the time for clarification. If you want a quick and dirty intro to XML, this book is for you. If you need to learn XML, you will want Holzner's book in addition to this. Holzner gives you best practices as you read whereas this book does not. For example, this book uses the MIXED format for declaring elements within DTD's. However, Holzner does not recommend this and tells you why.

This is a book for beginners. I bought the first edition and it gave me all the important information about XML before I started working with it. When I first read it, I thought it was a wonderful book and it was very easy to understand. You will now what's XML in one week and you'll be able to start using it in only two days just by looking at the examples.

Unfortunately, right now I know there's so much more out there about XML than the information contained on the book and believe me, once that you read it, you are never going to used it again because it's not a good book for reference.

I would recommend you to look for a different book with more examples, source code, advanced features or even one that can be used as a reference in your future work.

I am one of those freaks who would look at a bezillion books before settling with one. (Talking about computer books ofcourse!). This is especially significant when it comes to XML because there is so much tech jargon out there & it is really hard find a book that does not get lost in the details & instead introduce us to the core right away. This book does exactly that. You will start writing decent xml right away.

The following will be helpful.

1. HTML knowledge (a little)
2. The concept of scripts
3. The concept of CSS
4. The concept of XML

When I say 'the concept of', I am only talking about a surface level, "Purpose of existence" kind. Even if you don't know anything about XML, you will be fine with this book.

The book gradually introduces the concepts & does a very neat job of explaining new ideas.

Peace.

The author does a pretty good job at laying out the basics of XML in a step-by-step fashion, although he does tend to be a bit verbose - just like the language. Still, if you are a beginner (I'm assuming at least a bit of computer knowledge here) and you want to get up to amateur speed, then this is a good book for you. He does a good job at detailing, not only the basics of the markup language itself, but also the schemas that accompany it vi-a-vis data expression and content, such as .css style sheets, the interrelation of XML and HTML, and .dtd for data regulation.

I got this book to review my Microsoft XML practices. This book does an extreme number of forward page jumping - one or 2 errors. But it also does a fairly good job of backwards page referencing. The consistency of using one subject and format is awesome as you actually build on a starting foundation. While the author seems to lead you in a good direction, he introduces things that he doesn't give detail on until a few pages later. He seems to mention a lot of things that make what he's currently talking about confusing because he'll "Introduce it later in the chapter" or X amount of pages ahead. Make sure you get another book along with this one. Overall it's not a bad book.

I bought this book just cause I wanted to know what XML was all about. I had been avoiding the step by step books from microsoft because since VB 6 step by step many moons ago...everyother one I had read was confusing and lacking. XML Step by Step however is very well laid out and has renewed my confidence in the series. He does jump around a little more than Id like him too and as pointed out by a previous reviewer...He does have too many flow stopping notes added in. Still, I am learning from the book at an acceptable pace and thats a successful publication so far as I am concerened. I also noted someone else saying the book was boring. XML is boring...I dont think its fair to shoot the messenger. Foundations are important, this book offers just that. An interesting bonus to this book is that it manages to incorperate an excellent CSS section that is better than most of the books ive read that are dedicated to CSS alone. For that I offer an extra credit star. Mad props to Mr. Young.

Great resource to gain a decent understanding of this technology, very quickly. I am a huge fan of the step by step series and authors. Getting older books for a penny doesn't hurt either.

I like this book. I have a lot of experience with Mcrosoft implementations of XML and still I have it on my bookshelf. It could be a bit thick to my taste, but it's thorough in covering all the details of both implementation and XML itself. And in XML there is a lot of them.

I am just learning XML for the first time and this book walks me through it the way I need to be walked through it.

Some experience with HTML might be mandatory. But, the examples are excellent and easy to follow. And the text is neither dry nor simple minded.