5 comments about XML Databases and the Semantic Web.

1. If you know anything at all about XML and the semantic web - DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS BOOK. This book covers nothing in depth. I just spent 3 nights reading this book - waiting for something to happen - it never does. The author does not go into any decent technical detail on anything. If you have ever worked with XML and want to learn something about RDF etc... this is not the book for you.



2. This books covers a lot of topics very well. It starts with a discussion of web databases and semi-structured databases and then goes on to discuss XML, RDF and finally ties all the concepts together in a discussion of the semantic web. Semantic web is still evolving and the author clairifies the various concepts quite well. While this may not be at the right level for a technologist or a developer, this book will be quite appropriate for a manager or executive who wants to get a quick introduction to the semantic web and XML.



3. This books covers a lot of topics very well. It starts with a discussion of web databases and semi-structured databases and then goes on to discuss XML, RDF and finally ties all the concepts together in a discussion of the semantic web. Semantic web is still evolving and the author clairifies the various concepts quite well. While this may not be at the right level for a technologist or a developer, this book will be quite appropriate for a manager or executive who wants to get q quick introduction to the semantic web and XML.



4. I am new to the field of web and databases and found this to be an excellent book. It is very well written and very easy to read. It does not hype up the area like some other books do and provides a very realistic picture. I am now eager to learn more about the field.



5. The author provides broad overview of the semantic web and XML. It gives a beginner some insights into the field. It does not go into depth on XML, but gives several references for the reader to find more information. It also takes a database perspective in discussing the semantic web rather than an artificial intelligence perspective. I find this aspect very interesting.

5 comments about Xml: A Primer (Professional Mindware).

1. Some people appear to really like this book. It has received many glowing reviews, but I can only shake my head in disagreement. This book is a dud -- too much text, and not enough practical advise or code examples.

   The author could not adequately describe how to use basic XML components such as Document Type Definitions (DTDs), and failed to show how Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can be used to display XML on the web.

   If you are a web programmer or need to do something useful with

   XML, look elsewhere. This is not the book for you. In fact, I'm selling this book. Wanna buy it? I'll use the proceeds to purchase "Beginning XML" by Kurt Cagle. That book looks promising.




2. Data organization is XML's strength, making it an excellent mechanism for transfering information from one application to another -- whether it is a database, a legacy system, or a web site. Strangely, the author never really gets the point across.

   Even near the end of the book, the author only briefly mentions the XML parsing tool called SAX (the popular XML/Java API). Unfortunately, he fails to provide details on it use. SAX offers an easy way for computers to read an XML file and extract the data. Perl and Active Server Page APIs are also available for those who do not program in Java. But, data organization is only one of the strengths of XML. Many others exist. (The author misses these, too.)

   This book is the worst technical book I've ever purchased. If it were feasible, I'd give it negative stars. If you are interested in learning AND using XML's capabilities, check out David Hunter's "Beginning XML". Compare the table of contents. You'll see the difference.




3. It's February 2001, and this book still does a better job of explaining what XML is all about than ones with a 2001 copyright date. St. Laurent's understanding of a Primer is right on target. Instead of having tons of code for the reader to cluelessly hammer out, he explains how XML works, and so when the reader does code the examples, he understands far better what's going on. The explanation of the Document Object Model is unmatched in any of the other books published on XML. Likewise, the crucial topic of Document Type Definitions (DTD) is handled far better and in intelligent detail than anything published since.

   Unfortunately, XML is deceptively complex. While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to crank up an XML file, toss in some CSS and claim XML is yet another programming language one has conquered, understanding how the DTD works requires more than a couple of examples and a reassuring pat on the shoulder that the reader can do it in an afternoon. What St. Laurent does, and does well, is to prepare the serious developer/programmer for understanding XML. To be sure, the book represents a foundation for using XML and is not an entire treatise on all that XML can do. However, unlike some of the books I've seen on XML that contain code that will not validate (including on their CD ROMs), this book gets it right. If you want to get XML right, this book is the place to start.




4. I first read this book a few years ago, and still read excerpts from it periodically as friends get involved. In one of the early chapters, St Laurent basically asserts that WYSIWYG was actually a technological setback. I knew at that point I was going to enjoy the book.

   If you're into computer science, and want to understand the technology - this is a great place to start.




5. I'm a web developer who knows both HTML and CSS. I bought this book wondering what the world of XML could be about. I was told that it was the "future" of the internet or something. I browsed some online tutorials, and found that this was not just some simple language you could learn in a couple weeks. As I opened the book, I started reading the introduction. The beginning of the book is very interesting because St. Laurent gets into much detail about where XML came from and the roots of practically every language it derived from (like C). But as I read on into the book, he was very wordy. this book needed a CD-ROM with it. The language itself is very simple. But there are many rules that you must follow. To a typical, experienced developer his language is probably most understandable. As I was reading about DTDs n such (i had to read it over a bzillion times) I got even more confused. Finally, I just decided to put it down. His explanations were NOT in layman's terms so the curious user could understand. True, he did give lengthy explanations, but it could be because I read it all during school in small snippets. I never tried out his onlione stuff he has pasted all over the book. What I'm saying is I don't think this book is for curious new users. Maybe users thatr understand all the basic stuff, then just wanna use it as a reference or be told why exactly something does something. A user said earlier that he doesn't leave the reader guessing random code. Well, if you flip thru the back, you can see that the lengthy code pages offer tiny explanations. The IS a ton of code pages. Just thought I'd point that out. I would not recommend this book to anyone. The cheapest is not always the best.

5 comments about Applied XML Solutions.

1. The author presents very practical example projects in each chapter. The project in Chapter 9 is especially clear on demonstating the SOAP concept. Buy this book to jump-start your XML/Java knowledge and experience. You'll never regret buying this book.



2. There are already lots of 5 stars here and it seems unnecessary to vote another 5 stars. Anyway, I would like to give some personal feedback.

   1)This book is short in length but rich in content.

   Chapter 1 convers XML in a standalone java application, SAX parser is used in this chapter; chapter 2 shows a survex project using SAX parser and servlet; chapter 3 demonstrated how to use DTD, CSS within XML editor XMetal; chapter 4 covers XML publishing, same content can be published with different style sheets for HTML, WML and RSS; chapter 5 and chapter 6 describe the conversion between XML and EDI using xsl; chapter 7 is devoted to an e-Business project, using xsl and servlet; chapter 8 can be read after chapter 4, it is also devoted to publishing, with dynamically generated xml content; chapter 9 is devoted to a stock tracking project, which uses SOAP as the communication protocol, it can be read after chapter 7.

   In a whole, this book covers:

   a) XML parsers in chapter 1, 2, also java, servlet, design patterns Builder, Visitor.

   b) XML editor in chapter 3, also CSS, DTD,

   c) Publishing (XSLT) in chapter 4 and 8, also servlet.

   d) XML and EDI in chapter 5 and 6, also XSLT.

   e) e-Business: chapter 7 and 9, also servlet, SOAP.

   2)This books is written for java developer, good understanding of java and servlet is required.

   3)There is no chapter on JSP and XML, although there are application of XML with servlet and you can transfer some servlet into JSP; there is no chapter on JMS and XML neither, you may hope to find this kind of example in a JMS book.

   4)This book is surpringly easy to use. I read it several times, from the beginning to the end. I tried EVERY EXAMPLE in the book, and every example works.

   To be more honest, I only find one problem in the example (I just want to prove that I really tried every example): on page 81, third paragraph, first line, the author talks about how to chnage display style in XMetal:

   Choose Tools, Editor Display Style

   I found "Editor Display Style" in the menu "Format" instead of menu "Tools", so maybe we shuld replace "Tools" by "Format".

   5)This book uses a JDBC database HypersonicSQL, and it is on the CD. So no preinstalled database is required.

   6)The servlet container used in the book is jetty, the author provided batch file to use it without any difficulty. However, if you use Tomcat or Weblogic or jrun or another servlet engine, you need to configure it.




3. This book has many projects, which gives insight into various parts of XML. Basic knowledge of XML is required though. Implementation of these projects is a good way of learning XML. Nothing like hand's on experience.

   The author's writing style is also good, he gives reasons choosing any particular implementation.

   If you really need to know XML, buy this book.




4. This book covers the most popular XML application architecture patterns. Great source both for ideas and ready-to-go source code. I was pleasantly surprized to find the whole chapter (Chapter 6: Import from Any Format) devoted to the problem I am facing in my current project... Another excellent book from Marchal that really helps me to do my work.



5. This is by far the best book on real applications using XML. The author is an expert in the field, and the book is clear and concise, yet it deals with fairly complex applications also.
   I highly reccomend this

No comments about ADO.NET and XML: ASP.NET On The Edge.

5 comments about Cocoon Developer's Handbook (Developer's Library).

1. I normaly spend my time cringing at the writing of computer science authors. This book is fairly straight forward. It skips a beat here and there, but not so much that it stops one dead in the tracks. It is an exhaustive read and only on the basics. I thought that more depth is eventually needed when Cocoon gets finalized, but this is about as good as it gets right now.



2. I'm using Cocoon, and i was looking for a good book to help me in developing XML based web sites.
   I buyed this book and i'm really satisfied. It is simple and complete. The book follows a well defined learning path. Some chapters, which analyzes advanced features in Cocoon(like SOAP, Internazionalization, ...), are extremely useful.



3. Sorry guys I know I should have wrote this one sooner. I went to a local bookstore here in Taipei and I bumped into someone who was buying this book. If only I could speak mandarin I would have told him that this book is simply OUTDATED because Cocoon has always been changing. It has never been, and may take a long time for it to be a full blown butterfly :)
   
   The book is great. It taught me a lot of stuff. Let us just say buying this book is like buying a book with a title "Mastering Windows 95 in one month".
   
   I am not going to preach on staying away as far as you can with Cocoon, not the book, even if it almost cost us our project but take a good, very good, look at the Table of Contents and see if the stuffs there are still supported by Cocoon. Or go to Cocoon website and decide on which stuff you would like to use (god bless you) and check if they are in this book.
   
   
   If I am to rate this book regardless of whether or not its updated, I will give it 5 star or even 6. It's a great book for academic engagement ONLY.



4. Unless you are using Cocoon 2.1.x or earlier, you are better off trying to learn from online tutorials or by asking questions at an online Cocoon forum. Relative to other Cocoon books available, this one is very good. Relative to 2008 and the release of Cocoon 2.2, this book is almost useless.



5. I did not find any other book which covers that much details.
   It good for the pros. and beginners alike. I like to see its second edition covering v2.2 coming out soon.
   The only drawback is the lack of CD but otherwise a must read for those who want to implement this web publishing framework.
   The service was good and I recieve the book in the exact quality as mentioned.
   Thanks

No comments about XML: La guia total del programador.

1 comments about Professional XML Development with Apache Tools Xerces, Xalan, FOP, Cocoon, Axis, Xindice (Wrox Professional Guides).

1. The book does have some typos and not all of the examples (Downloadable from the web site) will work in the form they are presented, however it does an effective job of dissecting code and quickly making you learn these complicated Apache Tools.

   I learned Apache Axis in two days time.

5 comments about XML, Web Services, and the Data Revolution (Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series).

1. Mr. Coyle has done an excellent job in demystiying XML and Web Services. He describes the technical details in a fashion that makes it easy to understand, and comprehend on the first read. His visual examples help the reader see the network, and communication paths that takes place between XML, SOAP, and WSDL. I consider myself semi-technical, and I felt that I had a much better grasp of these concepts, and the possibilities of applying this technology after reading his book. Highly recommended.



2. I bought this book based on the reviews and I made a mistake.
   This book doesn't give the technical details I wanted.
   If you are one of those bosses who doesn't get into details and just want to know the jargon so you can look technical when you are in meetings with more incompetent people, this is your book.



3. There are about 230 pages of actual content that provide a high-level tour of what the author calls the "data revolution." There is a crisp and concise overview of the XML technology family, along with some examples of XML in use. There is broad yet concise description of SOAP and Web Services. Common implementations like .Net, J2EE and other vendor implementations are discussed along with some of the issues in the industry. XML Security is discussed in enough detail to give you a good grasp of the issues. The book wraps up with some ideas about where this technology could take us.

   The best thing about this book is that it shows how XML and Web Services overcome many of the problems that plagued RPCs, DCOM, CORBA and RMI in a way understandable by anyone.

   This book is a quick read, in the concise, bulleted, margin-annotated style of Object-oriented Technology: A Manager's Guide. There are lots of really excellent visuals. This book will not help you actually write code or implement Web Services -- it is good for a semi-technical reader, or a technical reader who wants a better grasp of the big picture. Highly recommended.




4. If one can't manage to complete a book in a week, then it is not a book. It is a reference that you occasionally use. XML, Web Services, and the Data Revolution by Frank P. Coyle definitely comes under my 'book' category. If one wants to learn what XML and Web Services are in a week, this is a book to read.

   Lot of information yet concise presentation accomplished with self explanatory pictures depicting various XML technologies.




5. For me the best part of this book was Appendix A, entitled "XML Language Basics". This should have been the first chapter in the book. But by the time I got to it, I was pretty fed up with reading about "emergent behavior" and other buzz phrases. I did get a bit of a sense of what various acronyms mean, such as SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, J2EE and so on, but the ratio of fluff to substance was too high for my taste.

1 comments about XML Schemas.

1. I wanted a quick transition from XML DTDs to schemas when I picked up this book. As it turned out, I chose better than I knew. This isn't just a book about the W3C standard XML schemas, it specifically addresses the developer making the transition from DTDs. And, despite what you might guess from the title, it acknowledges that DTDs still have a place in the world of schemas.
   
   After its attention to DTDs and their schema counterparts, this book's big strength is in numerous and detailed examples. Every construct is shown real code samples, often in multiple samples. That certainly helps the cut&paste coder. It's also good for the more thoughtful programmer, one trying to pick up good development style as well as the basics of syntax and semantics.
   
   The authors become overly dependent on the examples, however. Again and again, they introduce some new aspect of schema development, offer a few examples, then stop. Although the reader now knows how say the new words in grammatically correct ways, she is left with no definition of just what those words mean. As an example, the "collapse" value of the "whiteSpace" facet is introduced on p.138 (even though the index says p.137), but not defined for another 400 pages. Namespaces are presented similarly and used pervasively, but their real purpose is illustrated poorly if at all: they allow the same element name to be imported from different schema fragments, but used in unambiguously different ways. In other places, two slightly different code fragments are used to ilustrate some distinction. In discussing "definition" vs. "declaration," for example, the differences are so small that finding them becomes a "where's Waldo" exercise that just a little typographic enhancement could have clarified.
   
   Attention to detail faltered in other ways, too. A few places omit closing delimiters: opening "<" sometimes lacked matching ">", and ditto quote marks. ISBNs appear repeatedly in examples, but are generally described as 10-digit numbers. Only a late example imported from another source acknowledges that the letter X may appear in the last position. Examples with addresses, phone numbers, and postal codes show no awareness of internationalization issues, or even of American conventions like apartment numbers in street addresses, PO boxes, and APO addresses. The cautious reader should study their XML and schema usage, but eye the application content in the most critical way. Also, as noted above, indexing could have been a lot more helpful.
   
   Still, it's user-friendly introduction to the complexities of XML schemas. It addresses the common case of a developer moving from DTDs to schemas, without the impenetrable density of the W3C standards. It also mentions some of the competing mechanisms, including Oasis's RELAX. The book has flaws, and could have in-lined a little discussion of XPath and regular expressions instead of pointing to standards, but generally stands well by itself. There may be better references out there, but this one should get you started.
   
   //wiredweird

1 comments about Visualizing the Semantic Web.

1. If you are analysing various XML-encoded data, and am overwhelmed with the sheer mass of it all, you have probably wondered about displaying it. The problem is that there are an infinite number of ways to display data.
   
   This book can only describe a small, finite number of display ideas. But it may well be worth your while to at least quickly thumb through the chapters. Various authors offer different takes on their data sets. The book also has some nice colour plates showing results.
   
   In the book's title, you can ignore Semantic Web if you so choose. The key thing is supposedly that you have XML data. But it turns out that even this is not a necessary restriction. One way to read this book is to look for different data visualisation ideas. If you find one that is promising, you then have to reimplement it for your data structures.