Review:XML by Example

My own literary-review Santa Claus A.M. Kuchling has sent in a review of Sean McGarth's book XML by Example. A book designed not for technical specifications, but for covering the issues arising in XML-like it's applicability in e-commerce, for example. For more information, and if you want to learn more, click below.

XML By Example
author	Sean McGrath
pages
publisher	Prentice Hall
rating	6
reviewer	A.M. Kuchling
ISBN
summary	A good overview of XML and the surrounding landscape of Document Type

The Scenario

Subtitled "Building E-commerce Applications", this is a fairly high-level look at XML, concentrating on financial and commercial application areas. The first chapter explains the basic ideas and history underlying XML, followed by three chapters about potential XML applications and their benefits, and some quick looks at emerging standards such as XSL (XML Style Language) and XLL (eXtensible Link Language). The middle sections have the most technical content: chapter 5 describes the basic syntax of XML, and chapter 11 revisits the syntax in more detail. Chapters 6 through 9 implement some simple applications using different languages such as JavaScript, Java, and Python, and chapter 10 discusses writing little scripts to make one-time searches and modifications to XML files. This is followed by chapters on the then-current drafts of XLL, XSL, and DOM. The final section returns to the high-level overview of the first section, and rounds out the book with a brief chapter on mixing SGML and XML, and 3 more chapters on various E-commerce initiatives.

What's Bad?

I suspect this book may not be low-level enough for some (most?) Slashdot readers -- it spends relatively little space on technical details. Most of the pages are devoted to general descriptions of different DTDs; for complete information about the topics covered, you'll still have to read the relevant recommendations or working drafts. Time is also cruel to XML books; the XSL coverage has been made outdated by massive changes to the current XSL working draft. The book is also marred by poor copy-editing and typography, a fault disappointingly common in Prentice Hall's XML series; I would expect better from the publisher.

What's Good?

The technical explanations that are given, particularly the two chapters on XML syntax, are as good as any I've seen. McGrath definitely has the qualifications you want from a computer book author; he founded Digitome, an SGML/XML consulting company, and has written other articles and books about SGML and XML.

For a long time, if someone asked me "What should I read to learn about the potential applications for XML?", I would recommend the XML issue of O'Reilly's W3 Journal, even though it was quite outdated. I will now begin recommending XML By Example as a more recent overview, slanted toward financial and commercial applications.

So What's In It For Me?

XML by Example would be a good book to give to a boss, or for anyone who want a wide overview of the ongoing activities and standards related to XML. But be aware that XML By Example doesn't dive into low-level details much; programmers might be happier just sitting down and reading the various W3C specifications and working drafts.

Buy this book over here.

Table of Contents

1. XML - An Executive Summary
2. XML in Action
3. The Commercial Benefits of XML
4. Gaining Competitive Advantage with XML
5. Just Enough Details
6. Using XML with Internet Explorer 4
7. Database Publishing with XML
8. Web Automation with WIDL (Web Interface Definition Language)
9. Push Publishing with CDF (Channel Definition Format)
10. Developing XML Utility Programs
11. The XML Standard
12. XML Hypertext Linking with XLL
13. XML Formatting with XSL
14. The Unicode Standard
15. The Document Object Model
16. Raiding the SGML Larder
17. OFX - Open Financial Exchange
18. XML/EDI - XML and Electronic Data Interchange
19. Open Trading Protocol