Customer Reviews

An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies

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I am not one to eulogise books but this one is worth blowing a trumpet about! Having taught XML Technologies at a well known UK university for three years at masters and final year undergraduate level, I have searched for a decent, comprehensive text book that covers all the bases in a readable and technical way. XML by itself, as we all know, is nothing special. But with technologies such as XSD, XSLT, XPath and XQuery (to name a few) it becomes a sophisticated programming paradigm. It really takes off when you glue it together with Java APIs and web services. This book shares that vision with considerable enthusiasm.

After reading a large number of books, this is the first time I've come across one that combines technical depth with absolute clarity. It takes you on a journey through the most important technologies including the latest XQuery, XPath 2.0 and XSLT 2.0, through Java/XML programming using the DOM API, SAX, JAXB and on to cover (perhaps) lesser known languages like STX and XDuce all the way up to web services including XMLRPC, SOAP, WSDL, WS-* and UDDI. It covers servlets, JSP, security, etc. etc. What this book hasn't got (with the possible exception of SOA and ESB) isn't worth bothering about.

The book is also packed with worked examples (I haven't accessed the stuff on their web-site yet) but the main thing that stands out about this book for me is that it's not just a reformatted download of W3C standard as so many are, it doesn't read like a software manual, it's a real text book in the old-fashioned sense. It's written by people who actually teach as a profession and have an authoritative grasp and rich experience of their material.

If you want to learn, buy a book from someone who wants to teach. If you want to learn about XML and Web Technologies -- buy this book!

A quality book! I want to thank the authors for writing such a well worked trough book. Much of it has been University level class book material for several terms and you can just sense how the quality have been worked into the book for each iteration it has been taught.

IXWT covers a lot of ground in a fantastically well written and concise style that makes no assumptions to any previous knowledge in the field, yet never dumbs the subject matter down. It respects the time you devote to reading it and helps you learn exactly what you need in the 3-letter-acronym-jungle. A very concise, thorough and uncluttered introduction to XML web technologies that I recommend.

thanks again for writing such a good book :-) !

Dear Anders and Michael,

I recently purchased your book entitled "An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies". I started reading it and I must say that you have done a wonderful job. It reads with ease and your presentation style is as limpid as pure mountain water. I particularly enjoy the fact that you are doing a masterful and in-depth tutorial of several of the recent outputs of the W3C's language mill without losing your critical mind and making accurate remarks for several annoying idiosyncrasies owing their existence more to historical and political reasons rather than simple efficient scientific design.

At any rate, I congratulate you on an excellent book and look forward to reading more of your didactic and scientific publications.

It would be very interesting to envisage a book in the style of yours on the so-called Semantic Web. I, for one, as ILOG's current Principal rep in the W3C Rule Interchange Format WG, would welcome your critical eye and approach to this vast and unchartered domain.

Thanks again for writing this book. I will definitely recommend it as an effective and concise reference to the subject to anyone - whether newbie or old-timer.