XML: Visual QuickStart Guide

by Kevin Howard Goldberg

What is XML? XML, or eXtensible Markup Language, is a specification for storing information. It is also a specification for describing the structure of that information. And while XML is a markup language (just like HTML), XML has no tags of its own. It allows the person writing the XML to create whatever tags they need. The only condition is that these newly created tags adhere to the rules of the XML specification.

In the seven years since the first edition of “ Visual QuickStart Guide” was published, XML has taken its place next to HTML as a foundational language on the Internet. XML has become a very popular method for storing data and the most popular method for transmitting data between all sorts of systems and applications. The reason being, where HTML was designed to display information, XML was designed to manage it.

“ Visual QuickStart Guide, 2nd Edition” is divided into seven parts. Each part contains one or more chapters with step-by-step instructions that explain how to perform XML-related tasks. Wherever possible, examples of the concepts being discussed are displayed, and the parts of the examples on which to focus are highlighted.

The order of the book is intentionally designed to be an introduction to the fundamentals of XML, followed by discussions of related XML technologies.

Genres: Computer Science, Programming, Nonfiction, Reference, Technical, Technology, Academic

669 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 9, 2008

Reviews

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of frustrating, but so is XML.

[Wendelle]

step-by-step instructions for absolute beginners are really helpful! Much appreciated!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very gentle introduction to XML. A professor I knew suggested it to students who were struggling with the basic concepts for XML and after reading the book I see why. It breaks things down into simple step (like all quickstart guides) and let's the reader feel a sense of accomplishment in dealing with creating XML documents, schema, XSL and even some XQuery. There's even a brief look at the .epub format (now slightly out of date due to changes in the format)! I will suggest this for students as an introductory text, but the book isn't the text for those who want to build and create sophisticated XML.

[Steve Whiting · Rating 2 out of 5]

Has good coverage of the subject - XML, XSLT & Xpath and Xquery. Unfortunately , the whole approach ("type this, then type this, then type this...") starts out irritating and ends up infuriating - it's like being read a book one syllable at a time.

It's usable as a reference book, but the style is not very conducise to recollecting the information which is supposed to be being conveyed - I can't help but feel the approach has been selected to fit into the half-page columns, whereas a 'shorter & wider' approach, where the whole syntax is shown at once - either in text or syntax diagrams, might have been better.

[Trent Bac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well informative and easy.

Appropriate in detail. You can get general knowledge of Xml and related technology in basic level easily and quickly. Better than I expected from other reviews.