XML Weekend Crash Course (with CD-ROM) [Paperback]

Kay Ethier (Author), Alan Houser (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764547593 | ISBN-13: 978-0764547591 | Publication Date: September 2001

XML Weekend Crash Course covers the ins and outs of XML in 30 sessions. Each session is designed to take 30 minutes to complete, so the Crash Course is an intense 15-hour learning period. You can complete the Crash Course over a single weekend -- but you can also easily adapt the Crash Course sessions to whatever schedule best suits your needs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Get Up to Speed on XML - in a Weekend! The big day is Monday - the day you get to show off what you know about XML. The problem is, you're not really up to speed. Maybe it's been a while since you worked with Extensible Markup Language, or maybe you just like a challenge. In any event, we've got a solution for you - XML Weekend Crash Course. Open the book Friday evening and on Sunday afternoon, after completing 30 fast, focused sessions, you'll be able to jump right in and start creating cutting-edge XML solutions. It's as simple as that. The Curriculum Friday Evening: 4 Sessions, 2 Hours
* Introduction to Structured Documents
* Why XML?
* A Simple XML Document
* Using XML on the Web
Saturday Morning: 6 Sessions, 3 Hours
* Creating XML Documents
* Tour of XML Syntax: Elements and Attributes
* Tour of XML Syntax: Special Constructs
* Working with Well-formed XML Documents
* Specifying an XML Vocabulary with a DTD
* Validating an XML Document and Expanding Its Structure
Afternoon: 6 Sessions, 3 Hours
* Exploring XML DTDs: Specifying Attributes
* Exploring XML DTDs: Creating Cross-References and Links
* Exploring XML DTDs: External Files
* Exploring XML DTDs: Special Characters
* Exploring XML DTDs: Graphics
* Publishing XML Documents: Introduction to XML Transformations
Evening: 4 Sessions, 2 Hours
* Simple Transformations with XSLT and XPath
* Introducing the XML Path Language (XPath)
* Using XSLT and XPath to Select XML Content
* Using XSLT and XPath to Fill an HTML Template
Sunday Morning: 6 Sessions, 3 Hours
* Introduction to Displaying XML Documents
* Formatting XML Documents with Cascading Style Sheets
* Building Web Sites with XSLT - Part I
* Building Web Sites with XSLT - Part II
* Scripting XML
* XHTML: An XML Vocabulary for the Web
Afternoon: 4 Sessions, 2 Hours
* Introduction to XML Schemas - Part I
* Introduction to XML Schemas - Part II
* Using Industry-Standard XML Vocabularies
* Linking and Querying XML Documents
CD-ROM Includes:
* Turbo XML trial version
* Evaluation versions of XML Spy and WorX for Word
* FrameMaker+SGML and SVGViewer tryout version
* Sample code from the book
* Assessment software to help gauge your progress
System Requirements: PC running Windows 95 or later, Windows NT 4 or later. See Appendix B for details and complete system requirements. For more information on Hungry Minds, go to www.hungryminds.com

About the Author

About the Authors Kay Ethier is manager of new business with Bright Path Solutions of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Kay is an accomplished writer and regular contributor to IT: Information Technology for Professionals, for which she writes on a variety of technology topics. She instructs technical courses on such topics as FrameMaker, FrameMaker+SGML, XML, HTML, and Adobe Acrobat. In addition to teaching, Kay works with clients on paper and electronic publishing projects, manages internal corporate publishing projects, and lectures at national seminars and conferences. Alan Houser is co-founder and principal partner of Group Wellesley, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company that provides technical documentation and information management services to technology-based companies and organizations. Having more than 12 years of experience in the software industry, Alan enjoys developing solutions to support information management and information re-use, and he has designed enterprise-wide processes for writing, maintaining, and publishing technical documentation. He has presented on publishing solutions, including XML and SGML, at local and national conferences, and he provides classroom training to corporate audiences in XML and FrameMaker+SGML.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764547593
• ISBN-13: 978-0764547591
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #168,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > XML

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but it has its quirks, May 5, 2004

By 

Anon - See all my reviews

This review is from: XML Weekend Crash Course (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

This is a great book for newbies like me, but there were a lot of errors (mostly incorrect names for associating files) that you have to figure out on your own. The errors occur once every 2 to 3 chapters, so it isn't too bad - just annoying. From what I've seen, the CD has the correct file names so there's some relief there. Unfortunately, the publishing company went out of business so you can't go to their website to get updates with corrections.

60 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars XML: Weekend Crash Course, October 28, 2002

By 

David Dilts, Senior Technical Writer (Cary, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: XML Weekend Crash Course (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

Book Description

XML Weekend Crash Course is an excellent source for beginners and experienced users alike for learning or enhancing XML skills in just 15 hours or 30 well-thought out sessions. You will gain a thorough understanding of XML documents and learn what it takes to create working, viewable XML.

XML WCC will walk you through step-by-step on how to systematically apply each task in a building block manner. As you work through each chapter, you feel as if a trainer and coach is guiding you through the process. Key areas in the text that enhance the learning experience are the Tips, Notes, Time Clock Progress Icon, Explanations of the Task, Review, and the Quiz Yourself Questions at the end of each chapter. As XML becomes ever more prevalent for applications on the Web, XML WCC is definitely a must for those who need to know how to get started in creating XML documents.

What does this book cover?

- Using tags to label XML content
- Formatting XML documents for display in a Web browser
- Building applications around XML documents
- Understanding how XML documents are processed
- Learning several ways to create XML documents
- Learning the two major building blocks of XML documents
- Taking advantage of the many tools available for validating
- Attributes, uses, and benefits of DTD's (Document Type
Definitions)
- Learning about graphic types and options
- Simple transformations with XSLT and X Path
- Using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and applying XSLT style
sheets automatically
- Introduction to XML schemas
- Linking and querying XML documents

Book Info

Offers the novice and experienced XML user a solid foundation in understanding the key attributes and the applications of XML documents. Upon completion of XML WCC, users will feel confident in their understanding, application, and future development as they move forward in XML learning. Softcover.

This book includes a CD-ROM as well. The CD-ROM contains a self-assessment test, source code for session examples, software that can be installed, and links to other useful software.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Covers the material pretty well, but sloppy., October 14, 2005

By 

M. Sanford (San Francisco, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: XML Weekend Crash Course (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

Overall this is an decent place to start with XML. It covers what needs to be covered to get you up to speed, and most readers with any technical background could probably could do it at about the pace that the book advertises (15 hours to get up to speed on XML.) Organization and writing are mostly OK.

Hovever, the book is sloppy. It repeats itself in several places. Some editing notes are left in the text. One exercise is presented before giving proper background, so the reader doesn't even know how to do the exercise. Some obvious questions are left unanswered, leaving the reader feeling frustrated. Clearly the book was not 'street tested'.

Overall, if you can forgive the books faults, you are given a good grasp of the key XML concepts. This is par for the course, and so I give it 3 stars. It gives you the knowledge you need, but does so a sloppy way.