2 comments about Fast SOA: The way to use native XML technology to achieve Service Oriented Architecture governance, scalability, and performance (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems).

1. If there is one lesson from this excellent book, it is to test, test, and test again. That is the author`s solution to sucessful SOA deployments, and his point probably applies to all application development.



2. I have never read a technical book which is so poorly written. The author would be well-served by taking an English Grammar course. The Publisher should fire the editor. Mr. Cohen's expertise notwithstanding, this book is frought with run-on sentences, choppy sentences, and a distracting overuse of 'For instance'. The manuscript for this book would have received an 'F' in a collegiate freshman english course. It is just plain difficult to read, as the phrasing is really bad.

5 comments about Professional Java Server Programming: with Servlets, JavaServer Pages (JSP), XML, Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), JNDI, CORBA, Jini and Javaspaces.

1. I guess I shouldn't expect a book written by 12 different people to be too cohesive but this book was very disjointed. They tried to cover too many topics with varying levels of depth so while this may have been a good book were it intended to be an overview of the technologies, it ends up uneven with topic coverage quality ranging from average to poor. The case studies and plethora of appendixes mostly bulked up the book rather than adding value.



2. I would reccomend this book only to people who are new to Java Programming and want an overall treatise with something on everything possible server side. But for those who are already in this field for a while and want to build on their knowledge this book would be a big disappointment. The other main drawback of this book is its bulkiness.

   This book does cover some of the topics like servlets in detail good enough for a serious programmer but most of the other topics introduced are not exhaustive enough for a serious developer.

   To sum it up, rather buy books on individual topics and build a solid base than adorn your bookself with fancy Wrox books.




3. Over all this is a great book. It give you the overall idea on Java Server Programming. If you really serious on specific topic, you have to buy another one. It is good for the beginner to grap the general idea on Java Server Programming.



4. I bought this book a few months ago and I found out that it covers the basics of J2EE. Imagine 10+ authors. Each talks about their own thing and then they slap it together and call it a Wrox Published book. My gripes with this book are:
   1. Unfocused. Topics jump from rather quickly and do not ease you into one another.
   2. Code is filled with example codes that do not work.
   3. Did not stay with one topic and cover it enough.
   4. Price

   Good things about the book:
   1. Has a pretty nice red cover so I know Wrox made it.
   2. It's pretty big so if a rat manages to get in the house, I can squash it with the book, not that I would do such a thing.
   3. Makes people go "WOW" when they say, "you actually read that whole thing??" given the number of pages.

   Unfortunately, this is not one book that I've been hitting on for help at all. It's usually the last resort to look up information since I usually find the answers I need elsewhere. The material provided in this book is too spread out and not covered enough in detail to be of much use.

   However, for those who just want to get a feel for the J2EE technologies, I say you would enjoy this book. But it would outlive its usefullness after some time.




5. I would reccomend this book only to people who are new to Java Programming and want an overall treatise with something on everything possible server side. But for those who are already in this field for a while and want to build on their knowledge this book would be a big disappointment. The other main drawback of this book is its bulkiness.

   This book does cover some of the topics like servlets in detail good enough for a serious programmer but most of the other topics introduced are not exhaustive enough for a serious developer.

   To sum it up, rather buy books on individual topics and build a solid base than adorn your bookself with fancy Wrox books.

4 comments about The XML Schema Companion.

1. You probably know that XML is descended from SGML, and it thus inherited DTDs, which were then the only means of specifying a document model. That proved adequate for SGML, but its limitations soon became clear in XML. Several alternatives were proposed, but XML Schema seems to be winning. Thus Bradley has delivered a timely exposition. He covers all the features clearly. A brief mention is made of its competitors, Relax NG and Schematron. But they do seem to be fading fast.

   The most interesting part of Bradley's text are the chapters on namespaces. Other aspects of Schema are lower level and, while useful, are frankly mundane. By contrast, namespaces are the critical feature of Schema. They let you build on pre-existing schemas that have been published on the web. And you can publish your schemas so that others might benefit. You and those in your field or industry can cooperatively derive a net gain by agreeing and publishing standard definitions. A Network effect.

   I assume that you are familiar with HTML. In that, the crucial element are the hyperlinks (the href and src attributes in certain tags). It is these that put the "H" in HTML. Without them, HTML just becomes a limited page markup language. It is that ability to link to arbitrary locations on the Internet which produced the Web. Likewise, in the much heralded Web Services, these exchange data via XML. Which in turn depends on XML Schema to build consistent hyperlinked semantics.

   You should read Bradley's chapters on namespaces thoroughly.




2. This is a solid reference work on XML Schema. I wouldn't go looking to it for advice on how to solve particular problems with XML Schema. But if you are looking for a quick reference guide that covers all of the syntax with annotated examples then you have come to the right place. The graphics, which are light-weight and to the point help to illustrate the key points.

   Two minor complaints are that the structure of the book is odd (chapters at the end of the book which are clearly appendices are structured as chapters), and the index is also a little short.

   On the positive note, XML schema is not a particularly exciting topic and Neil's tone keeps it a light and interesting read.

   So far this is the best book I have read on the subject.




3. Neil Bradley in his fourth book tells you everything you would ever want to know about XML Schemas or better knows as XSD for XML Schema Definition. With the popularity that various XML technologies are attracting these days, every developer, architect and designer needs to know what XML Schema is and how it used. This topic is covered in many other books, but Bradley's book has by far the most extensive, comprehensive and thorough coverage of the topic. It shows that author truly understand the topic at hand, and can convey the message clearly to the reader. The organization of the book starts with the author explaining how the XML Schema standard defines a template that documents created based on that template must conform to, followed by showing the reader how to define reusable data blocks based on the XML Schema language, and it finishes with XML Schema related topic such as namespaces and a rather complete overview what's out there and where to get more information.
   
   Schemas are in a whole different category all by themselves. Every XML document, standard, protocol - basically anything that has anything to do with XML needs to use or to interact with XML Schema in one or another. XML Schemas are used to model both data and narrative XML documents, which means that if you are ever planning on interacting with XML, you better understand XML schemas. I thought that this topic will be very easy, and there is nothing to it... I was wrong. There is a whole lot to cover and once you read Bradley's book you'll know what I am talking about. The standard for schemas is so extensive, that the first few chapters of his book are spent on what the different terminologies mean and how they interrelate. For example, the difference between narrative data (data where the sequence of events and representation matters greatly) and datacenteric documents (order of presenting the data does not matter), and the difference between the schema definition author (the person who creates the schemas) versus the document instance author (people who create well-formed documents) and many others alike. After talking about the basics, the author spends a great deal of time explaining the various components of the XML schema such as elements, attributes, simple data type, complex data types, etc... Understanding these topics is essential in reading the following chapters of the book.
   The author uses the same examples throughout the end, so the reader can follow the text and actually understand the topic while the author is presenting it. The code samples are just great. Since the topic is rather abstract, the author had spent a great deal of time using examples to demonstrate the topic at hand better. There were times that I read the example first, and then I went back to read the text, because the visualization is the key in this topic. As with any programming or technical book, the topic and examples start simple and they get much harder as you read the book. The same goes with this book, but the interesting thing is that if you don't know enough about namespaces, the author sends you off to one of the accompanying chapters to read to get ready. The chances are that you don't know enough about namespaces, and the "reference" topics included towards the end of the book become very valuable as you read this book. I thought that I knew namespaces rather well until I read the following:
   "... namespaces do not exist as physical entities. There is no namespace definition markup language and no namespace file, object, or interface. ... namespaces are just a concept. This fact alone has led to much unnecessary confusion..."
   In all the books and all the articles and the press and ... that I have read on XML, this little but rather important concept was left out. In one chapter the author has shed more light on a topic of namespaces than an entire book that one would find on the topic. The moral of the story is to read this book cover-to-cover. Even if you think you know it all, still spend the time to read this book. I was amazed at how complicated XML Schemas could get and how powerful they really are.
   Some of the advanced topics covered include inheritance and pattern recognition. Both topics are very well explained and covered well. If you know regular expression from Perl, then pattern recognition in schema world would look very familiar to you. The same regular expression rules that are covered in Perl, govern the patterns matching in XML Schemas. What the author adds is concrete examples of how this technique can be used to build powerful schemas. Inheritance is another interesting topic in schemas, as inheritance has made XML schemas very object oriented. Some of your favorite concepts in Java map directly into schemas, and the author actually made table cross referencing the various "key phrases" in Java versus XML Schemas. If you are coming from the OO world of C++ or Java, take a look at this table first. If you are at all familiar with the Eiffel language, you would have a greater appreciation for some of the features of XML Schemas such as the ability to redefine an element or to extend specific parts of a schema.
   In closing, if you think you know XML Schema's, think again. This book covers the topic in detail and does so very well. I would recommend this book to be read by any schema designer or a valuable reference for anyone interface with any XML technology.



4. I purchased this book based upon recommendations listed here on Amazon. I should have looked elsewhere for reviews. This book is absolutely unreadable. The author jumps from topic to topic and then back that it makes my head spin. He refers to future chapters, future concepts, and external resources to distraction.
   
   Specifically, in the midst of discussing simple element constructions, Mr. Bradley includes a paragraph describing television stations in the UK that has no relevance to the examples given. I'm sure he's proud of his heritage and his expertise on television in England, but what does it have to do with XML Schemas or the current example????????
   
   I suspect that Mr. Bradley is a college professor. If he is, he should be forced to sit through recordings of his own lectures. Maybe that would cure him of his unbearable writing style.
   .

5 comments about Professional Java Server Programming J2EE Edition.

1. The content of the book is a great way for Java programmers to get an overview of the J2EE APIs and Java-based Web applications with reasonable hands-on depth. I can't say enough in that regard. More depth requires more specific books, but that's just due to the size of J2EE. However, the editing on this book is just short of awful. There are numerous typos and non-grammatical sentences. Part of this is obviously insufficient attention given to the writing of non-native speakers. The approach differs radically from chapter to chapter, ranging from elaborated regurgitation of the documentation (useful due to its experienced commentary) to teaching almost solely by example. In one chapter, the author's coding style is full of distracting peculiarities. If he were consistent in their use, it may not be so distracting, and his at time really strange departures from common control structure idioms leaves you guessing. If the chapter weren't so strong from an architecture and design perspective, you would wonder about his command of Java. All in all, I recommend this book as in introductory cram course on J2EE, but the Wrox multi-team approach broke down somewhat here.



2. Overall the book is ok as a reference material. But not a really good as a teaching material. I found it to be not very concise in delivering the intended information. At times it feels that the authors are wondering aimlessly. However, the book is packed with good information making it a rather decent source of reference material...



3. This book is one the most comprehensive ones that I've bought. It provides you with most of the possible technologies that you could use in a basic J2EE application. I love the section on the J2EE architecture. For newbies I typcially request that they read that section first. It does justice to basic topics like JDBC & Servlets & tag libraries, and the concepts about them. As well as introduces EJBs and other technologies. I am a long time java developer and I use it as a constant reference. Great job WROX!



4. This is a great book for people wanting to learn more about the many features, services, packages and nuances of Enterprise Java. I have yet to see another book that as much breadth of information on J2EE. It explains what each part is, how it works, and how it integrates with other parts. While you would have to buy some additional books if you needed more in-depth information on a particular topic, this book will help you know which questions to ask. Granted, with so many authors there isn't much continuity, and being a Wrox book there will be errors in the examples. But as a reference book, especially for newbies, this one is hard to top.



5. This is a "intro" book from several authors. If you don't know the j2ee technology at all or you intend to know any part of the j2ee then this is a good start point. But if you liked to dig into a specific area or to develop an j2ee application then this book is not sufficient.
   Moreover this j2ee book is a bit obsolate, the 1.3 edition is a better choice though the j2ee tech goes to the 1.4 edition.

5 comments about Beginning Visual Basic .NET Databases.

1. This is a great book, but it is definitely helpful if you already have some VB.NET knowledge as suggested by the publisher prior to starting this book. I did not, and so some of the examples were hard for me to follow (no fault of the authors). I like the hands-on examples in this book. They are basic but relevant to the real-world. I got a lot out of this book despite my inexperience with VB.NET. It gives you a broad intro to several facets of .NET including web services which look very interesting! I think my experience with the book would have been excellent if I would have been more prepared. I have now back-tracked to fill in some of the basic knowledge I needed. I now believe I could forge ahead with some basic database projects in VB.NET using this book as a reference. I would certainly buy it again and I'm sure I'll use it as a reference for some time to come. Get some basic VB.NET knowledge and then buy this book for learning the database specifics.



2. This book had a lack of examples.
   Poor presentation.
   The little snippets of code it used to navigate through
   the book were very dificult to grasp since there are no
   example to demonstrate that they work.
   I have been thru just under a dozen .net books. This is
   one of the worst alongside ithe vb.net unleashed book.
   It was very easy to give up reading this book since you always
   wonder if the code you type is ever going to work or
   is that the reason why some of the the code was not downloadable



3. Since this book has 3 authors, it would be interesting to know who wrote what parts. Some parts are very good, with understandable examples and clear explanations. Other parts I just scratched my head and wondered.

   It's not that I didn't understand what they were doing, it's that I wondered why they were doing it. It seems they went out of their way to make parts of the code complex and confusing.

   The main program developed in the book, the Product Management System, took 4 chapters. It could have been a great example of a simple program that taught the main points of database programming.

   However, parts of the code was poorly designed and written, resulting in the program being overly complex and not functioning like a professional program should.

   I feel that if you are teaching someone, you should show them the right way to do it. As a beginner in VB I am looking at the whole picture. Just because this book is about database programming, the authors should not ignore the quality of the rest of the language in their example code. Is it too much to ask the professional programmers who write books to write professional quality programs?

   I currently don't have a better book to recommend. I've started reading another book I got from the library, but I don't have an opinion yet. To bad the library doesn't have more books on VB so I could try before I buy.




4. For people with some experienced on VB .Net, this book will serve as a very good introduction on the basic skills on database programming. Not only have the authors done a good job on showing how to use ADO .Net, but they have also done a very nice job of showing how to apply the skills of objected-oriented programming techinques. Base forms are developed and then inherited to develop more sophisticated windows forms.I strongly think that this book is worth reading.



5. The book is generally good for a beginning book. The problem is that you can no longer get the Sample Code as the publisher WROK has been sold and is no longer keeping the old sample code on their site.

5 comments about Java and XSLT (O'Reilly Java).

1. This book chooses to forgoe some of the more standard tools for XSL translation that are on the market. The author instead uses alternate opensourced implementations (JDOM vs DOM). The problem with this is that in the real world, constraints often exist on your project such that you cannot use alternatives (oh no!). So instead of getting a robust book that explains how to implement DOM and translate, you get a book that wallows in the use of alternate methods and focuses on one thing: creating dynamic HTML. Honestly, this is a rahter tired subject in the XML world. I am more interested in how to translate XML to PDF or RTF or XL. I am not asking for a plain answer, but I was at least hoping for a very beginner approach.

   I have spent a week trying to get an implementation going and there is so much that I do not understand. I was hoping that this book would remedy that. It, sadly, does not. The example code is too specific to really help with a real world (constrained) application (I am developing for Oracle systems and they include the standard parsers from org.wc3.dom and org.xml.sax, using others requires server updates that are not recommended). I cannot recommend other titles as I have not read many others and the ones I have read are not too helpful.

   Good luck, but steer clear of this one, unless you don't mind losing fifteen dollars.




2. This book is definitely showing it's age. It covers XSLT as it was in 2001. It's all about having a flexible front-end and serving XML out as HTML and WML, or using it for internationalization. It's coverage of code generation is very, very minimal. There is also very little in the way of advice about increasing processing efficiency. There are also small mistakes; for example the misstatements about CGI and Servlets, which is a common error in Java articles and books.

   That being said, the examples are well annotated and the XML is highlighted for readability. The code is loosely annotated, which is the O'Reilly style, but it still makes some of the larger code fragments had to follow.

   As long as you know that this book is a little dated you will find reasonable material in here about XML, XSLT and how to get it into Java. It could use a second edition with more topical material.




3. I am very much impressed with the content of the book and the examples in particular. The book covers the breadth of using java and XSLT and also gives a nice case study using MVC architecture.



4. I found this book to be a very helpful introduction to the use of XSLT in Java. The text is well written and easy to follow, with examples that truly illuminate the concepts being demonstrated. While other reviewers have found the author's focus on transformations from XML to HTML to be a limitation, I found that this approach helped me focus on XSLT concepts without getting bogged down in discussions of other languages simply for the purpose of illustration.
   
   I found the first chapter synopsis of XML in Java to be very helpful in navigating my way through the "alphabet soup" of SAX, JAXP, DOM, JDOM, etc. I also appreciated that the book did not devote substantial space to reference information, which quickly becomes dated and is more easily searched online.



5. This is a very good compliment to the O'Reilly Java and XML book. It gives a good combination of theory and practical application. It also serves as a good quick reference if you need to deal a good deal with Java and XSLT. May not be the book for you if you are trying to learn XSLT, but does a good job of showing how Java fits into the world of XSLT.

5 comments about XSLT: Working with XML and HTML.

1. I have been tinkering with XML in conjunction with Web Application Architecture over the past few years. This book has provided me with great examples of how to effectively implement XML solutions. In the very least, it has provided me great inspiration.

   However, the author's unrelated Zen like comments and quotes strewn throughout the book bothered me.




2. I felt frustrated after the first 100 pages. The writer completely lost me after I struggled thru from page 50 or so! He seemed more interested in starting off each chapter with quotes by Chuang Ji and I don't know how the words in the quotes related to the topic, though only the quotes seemed interesting than the presentation of XSLT by the author. The book started off nicely in simple English and things were placed in perspective. Examples of the various nodes were shown in diagrams too, but that alone spanned over 25 pages! Chapter 3 became an overview of the real world example of XSLT works, the Chapter 4 was what shredded me to pieces. From then on, the writer didn't seem interested in helping the reader understand XSLT in clear simple words, instead used cryptic language with jargon. Mr. Fung just failed to help readers to nail down the cryptic symbols in an otherwise easy XSL transformation process! Elizabeth Castro did a real wonderful job in her book on XML in explaining XSLT and XPath.



3. This is the most beginner-friendly book on XSLT I am aware of. It is written in simple language devoid of XML infamous dreadful terminology. It implies neither the reader's significant Computer Science background, nor outstanding brain power. Explanations are as clear and simple as possible, with lots of illustrations. 1-star reviewers remarks about "cryptic writing" and "higher algebra" are egregiously misaddressed (though entertaining :).



4. Uniquely efficient presentation of the topic. A necessary and sufficient description of the 20% of XSLT that is used in 80% of applications. Perfect use of extended graphics for the tree handling basics in Part II, which by itself justifies purchase. This is one of a handful of books I've run across in 20 years that takes the reader to an intermediate level in almost no time. (Frank Pagan's slim book on Formal Definition of Programming Languages is another.) Consensus among colleagues is that the Fung book for jump-start plus the Michael Kay (2nd ed) book for reference is the XSLT library to have. One wishes this author would write on other topics.



5. This book has nothing to ofer. If you need some pointers on creating XSL style sheets then keep looking. There is no one practical example even for basic stuff like using variable and parameters for sorting and filtering. Most examples are of the form:
   xsl:choose
   xsl:when test='expr1' something
   so if you whant to know how to build 'expr1' you need another book.
   After spending the money and time I had to go to the www.w3c.org site and obtain the information.

5 comments about XML Step by Step (DV-DLT Fundamentals).

1. I purchased this book in hopes it would clear some things up as I took XML as a college crash class. This is an excellent starting point for those wanting to learn XML or anyone needing more explanation. The terms and procedures are explained so that you understand how and what with out going into a lot of theory. The examples are wonderful,and unlike some books, so far all the code works. It is easy to understand and it makes sense and doesn't leaving you wondering what was just said.
   I give this book a thumbs up!



2. This book is a great start to the language of XML! The author makes a lot of HTML references, but a beginner could probably grasp it. He begins with the basics and history to give the reader an great understanding of what they are about to get in to. In the first few chapters, you have mastered the basics of XML!! I highly reccomend this book! It goes slow enough for those who may get confused, but keep up the pace for those who get it quickly!



3. If you don't know anything about XML (like me two years ago), this is the first book that you should read. This book contains clear explanations backed by good samples and "step-by-step" exercises. You don't have to read the whole book to be efficient when using XML in your project. I only read the first few charters and I already began to code XML. If I can do it, so can you.



4. I had never used XML for anything, but I knew it had become very important in today's world. I was a little hesitant at first, since some MS Press books I'd read in the past were very dry and technical. To the contrary, however, this book is very well written with easy-to-understand examples. It provided me, someone who knew nothing of XML, with a very gentle introduction to the subject matter. It's very readable and you'll walk away from it with a very strong foundational knowledge of XML.



5. I used this book in 2001 to learn XML and it was great then.
   
   In the last week I have been looking at transforming xml on the client. A lot of designs transform on the server, but I really wanted to investigate a full xml approach. This shows you how to take an xml feed and use a client generated file ( XSLT or HTML ) to transform that data into a dynamic web page. Unfortunately this only works on IE, but the book explains how to do this easily.

5 comments about XQuery from the Experts: A Guide to the W3C XML Query Language.

1. Simply good. A collection of essays written by so many well-known names in the industry covering various aspects of the XQuery language from a "A Guided Tour" to "Introduction to Formal Semantics". A book that would be very useful for people with XSLT background, and need more power to do their job. A book that closes the between Relational Databases and XML.

   A good number of authors and innovators contributed materials to this book:
   - Don Chamberlin (an editor of the XML Query Use Cases, XQuery 1.0, XML Path Language 2.0 working drafts),
   - Denise Draper (one of the editors of XQuery 1.0 Formal Semantics),
   - Mary Fernandez (one of the editors of the working drafts of XQuery 1.0, XPath 2.0 Data Model, XML Path Language and XQuery 1.0 Formal Semantics),
   - Howard Katz (editor of this book)
   - Michael Kay (an editor of the XSLT, XSLT 2.0 and XQuery Serialization and XML Path Language 2.0 working drafts)
   - Jonathan Robie (an editor of XQuery 1.0, XML Query Requirements, XML Syntax for XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 working drafts)
   - Michael Rys (an editor of the XQuery Formal Semantics, XML Syntax for XQuery, XML Query Requirements, XML Query and the XPath Full-Text Requirements working drafts)
   - Jerome Simeon (an editor of XQuery 1.0, XPath 2.0 and the XQuery Formal Semantics working drafts)
   - Jim Tivy (System architect of the ODMC 1.0 SQL Engine for Microsoft)
   - Philip Walder (an editor of the XQuery, XPath Formal Semantics and the XML Schema working drafts)

   Even though that some of the chapter in this book will benefit an expert programmer, with a solid background in XML, there are more than enough chapter that will benefit the beginner and one's who are no really familiar with XPath, XQuery and XSLT. The book starts by going over the basics of the XQuery language. The Guided Tour is simply a refresher, and introduces the reader to XQuery and its syntax/semantics. It talks about the differences between XPath and XQuery for example, and the benefits of XQuery over XPath. Small code sections are used to convey to the read the difference of one technology versus the other. XPath and XQuery get a lot of attention in this book as there are lots of similarities between the two as far as syntax is concerned and plenty of difference as far as its capabilities with XPath.
   The author[s] dedicate the second chapter to the principles behind the design decisions of the XQuery language. Don Chamberlin, the author of this chapter, write the following mission statement for XQuery:
   "The purpose of the new query language was to provide a flexability to extract information from real and virtual XML documents."
   It is very refreshing to see the committee for creating XML actually went to the process of defining requirements, design definitions and the rest of the formal specification realization before they actually "wrote" the language. The message of formalism is very clear throughout the book. At each stage of design for this new language, proper documents have been generated (Use Case doc, Requirements doc, etc) that portray a good process. The section on formal semantics adds the following:
   "After the Java programming language was released, several formal semantics of the language were written. Some of these semantics revealed errors in the type system, which in turn could lead to security holes in browsers that run Java programs. ..."

   XQuery looks very similar to XPath, and this book spends a couple of chapters (a little of chapter 2, and most of chapter 3) to talk about the similarities, differences and influences of one language over the other. The new releases of XSTL, XPath and XQuery 1.0 look very similar since these groups collaborated with each other throughout the process of development. If you don't know anything about XPath or XSLT, and want to know how they differ and hoe they have evolved in the recent years, chapter 3, by Michael Kay, is what you need to read - or may even start with before you read the other chapters in this book. Chapter 3 starts off very easy, but it goes into more advanced topics such as optimization techniques used with XQuery - specially the one's that have been used before with XSLT and XPath for the same purpose.
   One of the most interesting chapters in this book is chapter 5 on Formal Semantics. It is rare and rather refreshing to see a language being broken up like that and it's predicate logic and semantics be given in such detail. You can skip this chapter all together, but I suggest otherwise. Even if it is to realize how language processing and semantics of a language work. I would love to see such topic for C++ or JAVA... This chapter is good for anyone interested in optimization techniques and wishes to learn more about the details and correctness of the XQuery language.
   Applications of XQuery at they apply to Databases and how it can be integrated into databases are covered in part 4.
   XQuery had the capability to navigate, select, combine, transform, sort and aggregate XML data - thus making the integration of XQuery with the backend database very powerful and rather simple. XML data, and how it can be integrated into the database with the help of XQuery is covered in detail and two techniques are laid out: the LOB (large object) representation where the entire XML data is saved as a large object in the database, and the composed representation where each XML element is stored individually.
   Even though XQuery is fairly a new language, the authors in this book go to great length depicting the formalism, the correctness, the stability and flexibility of the XQuery language. The chapters that cover Database integration with XML data clearly convey the power of this language, and thought process that went behind designing such stable and powerful language.




2. This is a good book if you know what you are getting. If you are looking for a focused guide to XQuery practical applications you aren't going to like this book. It's worth repeating, this is not a general reference or introduction to XQuery. This is a set of articles on XQuery related topics. The first 'chapter' is an introduction to XQuery which is actually quite good. After that is a chapter on the history of XQuery. Then there is a chapter on XSLT and XPath, which is a nice, but brief, introduction to those topics. There is a section on the semantics of XQuery which is so thick you could cut it with a knife. The book finishes with two chapters on relational to XML mapping.

   If you are a serious XQuery user, are interested in a case study in standards development, or are into relational theory this book is probably worth a look.




3. Full disclosure: I know all of the authors and count them among my friends.

   In spite of that, I can honestly say that I think this book is a very valuable guide to the emerging standard query language for XML. The insights provided by people who are actually doing the day-to-day design, and implementation in some cases, of this language are not available in any other XQuery book.

   The various chapters of the book provide overviews, design precepts, detailed examples, and thorough explanations (even of subjects as arcane as the static typing rules of the language).

   I enthusiastically encourage everybody interested in XQuery to add this book to their libraries.




4. A very useful explanation of XQuery and how to use it to analyse XML data. The book shows how this can be done with or without a supporting XML Schema or DTD that describes the XML. The authors explain why this goes beyond a Google-type search. The latter does not (at least currently) know or use any structural information about data, primarily because it scans all types of mostly unstructured data.

   But the rise of XML has driven demand for XQuery, to take advantage of this structure. The book also shows how XPath is used, as part of the XQuery implementation.

   Another merit of the book is its good description of the difference between XQuery and XSLT. The latter also has been getting a lot of attention from programmers. But, as explained by the authors, XSLT is mainly used on document centric data, mostly to generate HTML. By contrast, XQuery has no such restriction.




5. This book is a compact and thorough guide to XQuery. The Jonathan Robie tutorial in the beginning of the book is itself worth the overall price of the book.

5 comments about HTML & XML for Beginners (Cpg-Undefined).

1. Well, As A guy who has his own web page, I find that it is very important to have a neat looking website, in order to aquire an audience. However, getting a website to look excelent, requires hard work. So, After Checking This Book Out At the Borders Store, I thought this book might be a nessecity for my webpage. Basically, HTML is the origin of all web designs, and anything computer related. This Book Has NEVER let me down, and has become my new best friend! At First, I had to re-read a lot of things in order to get everything straight, but now its a lot easier! I think you should get this book, because believe it or not, It WILL pay off in the long run! Your shooting yourself in the foot if you DONT get it !!! So, what are you waiting for? Get This Book!



2. One of those "should have known"
   
   This is from Microsoft Press and when possible it speaks from a Microsoft perspective; not necessarily selling but certainly letting you know when Explore does this or Front Page does that.
   
   It also spends too much ink on analogies and could have packed more technical content in all those pages.



3. I was asked if I would be willing to teach web design as an advanced course offering for high school students. I'm not new to HTML, but I have been using a WISIWYG app to manage website for years. With this course, I felt it was important to start at the beginning in order for the students to have the solid foundation of web design and it' code, and then move into the current apps. I also fekt I needed a quick refresher. Thus I was looking for a book that would clearly explain the fundamentals of HTML and be simplistic enough for high school students. After seaching I came across this one.
   This book clearly explains the basic HTML and much more. After reviewing the book, I felt confident that this book would meet my students and my needs.



4. This book is NOT a concise guide as the editorial review says. It is cluttered up with wordy, conversational talk unrelated to learning html/xml. The author tells about him, his family, his friends, skateboarding, christmas toys, FOX news, and everything else under the sun, cluttering up the actual learning of html/xml. And he continually clutters up the text with phrases such as; as you can see, earlier I mentioned, as you know, as previously mentioned, earlier in the chapter you learned, etc.
   
   If I had known this was written in a redundant, wordy style, I would not have wasted my money on it. This is the style the online computer course in XML I'm taking is written in. I'm failing it and bought this book hoping it was "concise" and to the point without profuse clutter in the text.



5. Excellent Service. Ordered this product internationally, and within the specified time as specified according to my shipment plan, was with me.