- Paperback: 640 pages
- Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 2 edition (24 Jun 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0596002920
- ISBN-13: 978-0596002923
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 677,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Concise, accurate and sharply focused, XML in a Nutshell is a complete introduction to the essentials of the XML standard. It aims to give software developers a full understanding of how XML works, and also provides a handy reference to the version 1.0 recommendation from the W3C (Word Wide Web Consortium).
In four parts, the first part introduces XML and covers the fundamentals, including chapters on Document Type Definitions, Namespaces, and Internationalisation. The next part focuses on XML as a document format, with coverage of XHTML, XSL transformations, XPath, XLinks and XPointer, and using CSS (Cascading Stylesheets) or XSL-FO (XSL Formatting Objects). Data transmission and programming are the focus of the third part, which explains the Document Object Model and introduces SAX (the Simple API for XML). The final part is the reference section, and covers XML 1.0, XPath, XSLT, DOM, SAX and character sets.
XML is a slippery subject. It is really a family of many related specifications, most of which are still evolving, and in addition most developers need to know about several XML applications alongside the core technology. This handbook sticks mostly to the core of XML, so you should not expect more than a mention of SOAP, SVG (Scaleable Vector Graphics), or MathML, to take three examples. It is disappointing to find hardly any coverage of the XML Schema language.
For what it does cover though, XML in a Nutshell is a masterpiece of compression, laying the foundations for an excellent understanding of XML and finding space for example code and apt comments along the way. --Tim Anderson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Wireless Developer Network, July 17, 2002
"Simply put, this is the only reference book of its kind among XML books."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a generally good book to both someone who is just starting with XML and an XML expert as a reference.
It has a simple introduction on the basic elements of XML, DTD's and Namespaces. It's main part consists of a good explanation on XHTML, XSLT, XPath, XLink, XPointers, CSS and XSL-FO and is good for anyone who wants to learn about these. XML Schemas, the DOM and SAX are also thoroughly covered. The second half of the book is a reference section on all of these, which would particularly interest an XML expert. It has to be said here that although the reference section is really thorough, it does feel a bit messy and you might need some time to get used to.
Unfortunately this book doesn't have any section on how XML can be used with any programming languages. An appendix on PHP or PERL would be particularly welcomed, as something about connecting XML with Databases. On the other hand I guess you could get another book for that and you could see this one as suitable to someone who only wants to learn everything about XML.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Excellent. All the topics are covered very well. Both the nut shell chapters and reference chapters are well done. I highly recommend this book. Instead of pouring through the vast information on XML and realted techlogies and confusing myself, I thought I will bet my 30 bucks on O'reilly. Well, I am glad I did that. As a java programmer I am greatful to the authors insight to add references for SAX and DOM. I liked the chapters on namespaces,XPath, XPointers and XSL-FO. They gave a good introduction and insight into these technologies.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There's nothing in here that you can't learn by printing off a stack of the W3C site and reading through that. On the other paw, this book is small, convenient, and forms a valuable handy reference for most occasions.
It's useless as a teaching guide - but then no-one buys O'Reilly nutshells for that.
It's useless as a learned tome of ultimate authority. That's what W3C TR's are for, and this won't replace them.
It's not enough to cover XSLT to any useful depth, although the XPath section goes much of the way. Of the many small and fragmentary aspects of XML; XSLT is the one that benefits most from having a large stack of examples, rather than a reference.
XML Schema is ignored. It's churlish to complain too much, because it's a fast moving field and Schema was one of the fastest moving topics in it. Still, it's definitely the weakest point of the book. If you're working with schema development, then you'll need another reference for that, and it's a topic where reference books get a lot of wear very quickly.
On the whole, any XML beginners will find this a valuable book to have, provided they have a few others too to learn from initially and they're prepared to discard it in 6 months, once they've outgrown it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good Service
Item was down as being second-hand, but the item I received was brand-new ! Excellent service, recommended.
Published on 28 Feb 2010 by Mr. A. J. Ross
A detailed XML reference
XML
This book's an authoritative document: covering XML basics like DTD authoring and detailed discussion of attribute types - through to the more esoteric issues of character... Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2001 by herrison2000@hotmail.com
Not quite a waste of trees but close
Proports to be a desktop quick reference but fails badly in this area. The reference sections are badly formatted making it difficult to find items when you know where they should... Read more
Published on 31 May 2001
This book and it's subject is flawed
pg. 35 under No. of children has a serious error.
The book itself could be a bit more detailed, and some reference stuff serves no point, as it was talked about in earlier... Read more
The book itself could be a bit more detailed, and some reference stuff serves no point, as it was talked about in earlier... Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2001
The best reference book, not for self-teaching
I'm programming for 4 years and I have written both OOL (C++, JAVA, OOPerl, VB6) and script languages (UNIX shells, Perl), all of them using data from ORACLE. Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2001
The Best!
This books is very useful for beginners espcially for a Web Designer like me who wanted to start with some latest technology and XML is very uder friendly language it's not like... Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2001
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