1 comments about Information Architecture with XML: A Management Strategy.

1. This book offers a company a way to recast and re-implement a lot of its data handling. Surely an ambitious goal, and one that many might be reluctant to undertake. But the book strives to explain how a proper management level understanding of XML can enable these changes. It is not a book about the detailed syntax of XML and its associated standards. That is properly the remit of the programmers themselves, to understand and apply.
   
   Rather, the book aims at a higher level. Even if your current digital data takes on many disparate formats, you can use XML to implement a consistent metadata view. This is stored in XML and at the very least, lets you do rich searching through corporate data. Without necessarily changing any of the latter.
   
   The book discusses far more. But the above can be a conservative approach that lets you gather easy benefits from just a partial XML deployment. Just getting used to thinking about metadata can benefit you as a manager, by exposing new ways of thinking about your company's assets.

5 comments about Professional XML, 2nd Edition (Programmer to Programmer).

1. This is a very boring book. Chapters look like well organized, but content inside is mass and hard to follow. Don't buy this book.



2. Hi, All
   
   I bought the Professinal XML 2nd editon and quite like it so far. However I could not download any source code form www.wrox.com anymore, would anyone help to tell me where I can find a complete copy of the source code? Could some one help to email me one? My email address is wangqunx@yahoo.com. I really appreciate your help.



3. This book would have been more useful if all pages were blank, then at least I could use it to keep notes. I would not buy any other books by any of the authors of this book it is so poorly written. A total waste of time and money. Topics are presented in a very unorganized manner, there is no effort to develop understanding but rather ideas are presented before being explained. There is too much verbose and poorly worded explanatory material to make this even a good reference book. Avoid this book unless you're looking for something to start a fire.



4. Written in 2001 it's really starting to get dated with advances in many of the XML and related specs (not to mention new specs). But overall it's a good solid tome if you had to just have one but I'd prefer to have something more recent. That said it helped me pass my IBM developer certification for "XML and related technologies" in 2003.



5. I am astounded at the vicious, even obscene references to this book! One reviewer was using the book (according to him, "defacing the book") in a class, so this may account for the resentment towards the work and its authors. (It is interesting to see that when I reported the obscene reviews to Amazon, they removed them almost immediately. Impressive!)
   
   In any case, the book is covering a subject that is huge and complex. Furthermore, the specifications for the XML technologies are not static. So it is quite a task to try to cover all of this material in one book. The authors have done a good job of it -- better than most, to be sure. I would say that it would be best to wait to get the third edition that is coming out since this one is a bit dated, but if a reference is required now it is still a very good one to have.
   
   There are many confusing things that are inherent in XML. One simple example is the difference between "Document Type Declarations" and "Document Type Definitions" (DTD's). The authors go out of their way to point out that this confusing issue exists and to help you avoid mixing up the two concepts. We have to face the fact that the XML Specs are tedious, confusing and difficult to learn at times, and should not take our frustration with the subject out on this book! Childish comments like, "This book is boring", etc., are not helpful. LEARNING XML IS BORING! Grow up and get over it! ("Here we are now, entertain us..." Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana 1991)
   
   IBM listed this book as the reference for their XML Certification (141) exam for a reason. I'm using it and finding it to be a very complete, helpful learning tool.
   
   (One flaw I do notice in the book is that it has a definite MicroSoft slant. This leads to occasional errors like this one:
   or using type="text/xsl". The type should equal "application/xml". The MicroSoft MIME types are not and WILL NOT be registered with the IANA.)

1 comments about Integration-Ready Architecture and Design: Software Engineering with XML, Java, .NET, Wireless, Speech, and Knowledge Technologies.

1. This book was very solid technically, and a fascinating read. On the development side, it is filled with ideas and examples, some of which showed me completely different approaches to common problems. Conceptually, the book is even richer, not only explaining complex technologies in simple ways, but showing how some seemingly unrelated technological developments from the past few years can fit and work together. Overall, I think the book's most worthwhile aspect is the way it married its overall vision, which anticipates the future of integration and knowledge-driven computing, with very specific design and code examples that I could incorporate into my practice right away. A top book for people who want to stay ahead of the pack in the latest practical developments that will shape information architecture for the future.

5 comments about XML Web Services for ASP.NET.

1. I have purchased three books on XML Web services and this one was the most comprehensive and got right to the point on how to not only build webservices, but also to how consume them in my applications (.NET, VB and classic asp). It is interesting that this is such a talked about topic everywhere, but there are not too many books out on this subject. You won't do yourself wrong by getting this book.



2. Excellent book on webservices. Chapter 23 was something I had never seen before. WSDL is used extensively in the book, and Chapter 23 shows how to build take a standard HTML page and turn it into a WSDL document. What does this get you? Now you can screen scrape HTML pages and access the data as a property of the WSDL Document. I had never seen this before. Totally cool and unique technique!!



3. When I purchased this book, hope will find examples, information about Web Services to help my projects. But I only found identical MSDN information. I could not believe my eyes but several of sentences was same with MSDN. If you want to buy a Web Services book this should not be one. I have purchased several books on XML Web services and this one was the most identical (also just copy and paste) one.



4. I was studying for the Microsoft exam 70-310 on XML Web Services and they suggested this MS press book on web services, but the MS press book is ONLY in C# even though the exam they want you to take is for Web services in VB.NET! Had to return that book. I got this one instead. I was happy to see that this book covered XML Web services in both VB.NET and C# and I was able to use this book to study for my exam. Passed!



5. Any book on ASP.NET will mention Web services development, but "XML Web Services for ASP.NET" is an entire book dedicated to explaining all of the different sub-areas within the technology platform. And very well done. It's written by everyone's friend in .NET, Bill Evjen, one of the most outspoken advocates of .NET technology around.

   The book is outstanding and takes an in-depth look at XML Web services, and Microsoft's specific implementation of the paradigm. All of the major considerations are explained well and adequately to become productive in developing your own library of Web services, or by extending the functionality of your applications.

   The book's tone is very friendly, and non-intimidating, so it's a very easy, quick read. Bill also uses lots of practical analogies to make the more complex topics relevant, so it's an added bonus that this book appeals to the beginning as well as the seasoned developer.

   Bill discusses areas critical to a thorough understanding of WS technology using .NET such as SOAP, UDDI, remoting, security, authentication, performance, and client development for calling an XML Web service from an ASP.NET WebForm or Windows Form, VB 6.0 app, or an ASP 3.0 Web page. The book also features some really good appendices, especially those on .NET's Web service classes, and an XSD primer for schema development.

   The book is not about ASP.NET development, and so providing the reader has some experience with building third-generation Web applications, gets right to the meaty stuff. The chapters are short and to the point, and Bill's overview of ADO.NET is one of the better ones I've read in recent times. The most outstanding thing to me is that Bill liberally uses real-world code samples, with all code presented in both Visual Basic .NET and C#. Snafus in the code are very minimal, and I know form personal experience that good ol' Bill is extremely available and answers all his e-mail...about anything.

   However, the book's printed code samples (I haven't checked the downloadable source code from the publisher) tend to reflect code generated from Visual Studio .NET, which in my opinion become confusing and therefore more difficult to replicate in an IDE environment like Dreamweaver MX or ASP.NET Web Matrix or non-IDE environment like Notepad due to all of the proprietary code VS.NET generates, and in doing so, using code behind. It's been my experience that it's easier to go the other way - provide the raw code and leave it up to the developer to implement in whatever means they see fit.

   Another thing I did not care for (some of you may agree, I'm assuming most may not) was the physiology of the book itself, which was beyond the author's reasonable control. The binding is very flimsy and the spine breaks without much trouble. The paper isn't very durable, and doesn't lay flat for very long. I hope Wiley Publishing take into consideration that books of this nature get used & abused for their content more than most, and consider making corrections in the book's composition to make them last longer.

   But beyond this, the book is a must-have for a user group as it's cross-language, multi-developmental platform, multi-subject appeal make it applicable to many different levels of developers, and is great for team environments.

5 comments about The VoiceXML Handbook: Understanding and Building the Phone-Enabled Web.

1. As a VoiceXML developer, I looked forward to this book. I was disappointed. Too much time was spent speculating on Version 2.0 and not enough time explaining Version 1.0. If you are looking to learn VoiceXML this is not the book.



2. I am director of user interface design at Audiopoint in Fairfax, Virginia -- a voice portal/voice technology company. I work mostly in human factors, not programming. This book is exactly what I've been looking for, because it gives, I feel, an excellent overview of the many kinds of systems, software, and hardware that are involved in the work I do. I agree with another reviewer, who said that the author clearly states that not all the examples will work in every case, for various reasons. The great plus for me is that, even though my training is not for the most part in technology, I could still understand the book. The author takes you, usually, from the very beginning, and gives you the big, simple picture, which is crucial to have fixed firmly in your mind. This book is making it much easier for me to understand our IT people and talk with techies, and visualize various products which I'd like to see our company launch. So I give this book top rating....



3. I can find more information on the internet on this subject than reading this book. In fact I turned to the internet while reading this book for answers to the questions this book failed to answer.



4. In The VoiceXML Handbook: Understanding And Building The Phone-Enabled Web, computer telephony expert Bob Edgar takes the reader through a step-by-step introduction through all the features of VoiceXML (including VoiceXML 2.0). Readers will learn about Graphical Web Browsing, HTML, and HTTP; Telecommunications; Computer Telephony; Voice Recognition and Text-to-Speech; and XML. Also provided are a VoiceXML Tutorial and instructions on using Voice Browsers to crated Phone-Enabled Web Sites. The VoiceXML Handbook is an indispensable "how to" reference for anyone who needs to enhance their website with telephony-enabled technology and ability.



5. The book is a general overview of telephony application and a thin introduction to VoiceXML. It covers important matters in a very rapid and unprecise way. It contains even errors in the examples.

No comments about Mastering XMI: Java Programming with XMI, XML, and UML (With CD-ROM).

5 comments about XML and Perl.

1. One of Perl's great strengths is in processing text files. That is, after all, why it became so popular for generating dynamic web pages - web pages are just text (albeit text that is supposed to follow particular rules). As XML is just another text format, it follows that Perl will be just as good at processing XML documents. It's therefore surprising that using Perl for XML processing hasn't recieved much attention until recently. That's not saying that there hasn't been work going on in that area - many of the Perl XML processing modules have long and honourable histories - it'd just that the world outside of the Perl community doesn't seem to have taken much notice of this work. This is all set to change with the publication of this book and O'Reilly's Perl and XML.

   XML and Perl is written by two well-known members of the Perl XML community. Both are frequent contributors to the "perl-xml" mailing list, so there's certainly no doubt that they know what they are talking about. Which is always a good thing in a technical book.

   The book is made up of five sections. The first section has a couple of chapters which introduce you to the concepts voered in the book. Chapter one introduces you separately to XML and Perl and then chapter two takes a first look at how you can use Perl to process XML. This chapter finishes with two example programs for parsing simple XML documents.

   Section two goes into a lot more detail about parsing XML documents with Perl. Chapter three looks at event-driven parsing using XML::Parser and XML::Parser::PerlSAX to demonstrate to build example programs before going to talk in some detail about XML::SAX which is currently the state of the art in event-driven XML parsing in Perl. It also looks at XML::Xerces which is a Perl inteface to the Apache Software Foundation's Xerces parser. Chapter four covers tree based XML parsing and presents examples using XML::Simple, XML::Twig, XML::DOM and XML::LibXML. In both of these chapters the pros and cons of each of the modules are discussed in detail so that you can easily decide which solution to use in any given situation.

   Section three covers generating XML documents. In chapter five we look at generating XML from text sources using simple print statements and also the modules XML::Writer and XML::Handler::YAWriter. Chapter six looks at taking data from a database and turning that into XML using modules like XML::Generator::DBI and XML::DBMS. Chapter seven looks at miscellaneous other input formats and contains examples using XML::SAXDriver::CSV and XML::SAXDriver::Excel.

   Section four covers more advanced topics. Chapter eight is about XML transformations and filtering. This chapter covers using XSLT to transform XML documents. It covers the modules XML::LibXSLT, XML::Sabletron and XML::XPath.

   Chapter nine goes into detail about Matt Sergeant's AxKit, the Apache XML Kit which allows you to create a website in XML and automatically deliver it to your visitors in the correct format.

   Chapter rounds off the book with a look at using Perl to create web services. It looks at the two most common modules for creating web services in Perl - XML::RPC and SOAP::Lite.

   Finally, section five contains the appendices which provide more background on the introductions to XML and Perl from chapter one.

   There was one small point that I found a little annoying when reading the book. Each example was accompanied with a sample of the XML documents to be processed together with both a DTD and an XML Schema definition for the document. This seemed to me to be overkill. Did we really need both DTDs and XML Schemas for every example. I would have found it less distracting if one (or even both) of these had been moved to an appendix.

   That small complaint aside, I found it a useful and interesting book. It will be very useful to Perl programmers (like myself) who will increasingly be expected to process (and provide) data in XML formats.




2. The authors of this book, definitely know the subject. I believe one of them is an author of quite a few XML modules, though both are widely known in the Perl XML community.

   This book definitely covers the state of Perl and XML. It goes over the most important modules, in great detail and providing concrete examples. I especially like the first two chapters, which in detail get you prepared for the rest of the book. The coverage of XML parsing theory was a great topic to cover. Two large chapters, each dedicated to SAX and DOM respectively, covered both parsing technologies in great detail.

   Many, many, more great chapters. Apart from some typos, which are inevitable in any book, this book stands way above the O'Reilly counterpart, which I also own.




3. I wrote a review VERY critical of what OýReilly passes off as reference books. Their various CD Books are pathetic. Shortly after getting burned on two of their books, I was in need of a solid technical book on perl and XML. Well instead of OýReillyýs Perl and XML I voted with my dollars for Reihlýs XML and Perl. This is how a technical reference should be written. If you want to get into the perl and xml saddle quick, you canýt have a better boost thatn XML and Perl.



4. Using practical, real-world examples, XML And Perl is the collaborative effort of Mark Riehl and Ilya Sterin to demonstrates how to perform a variety of XML tasks, ranging from such basic tasks as XML parsing, to more advanced tasks such as writing XML event handlers, RDBMS integration, and XML transformation. XML And Perl is a continuingly useful addition to personal and professional XML and Perl reference collections.



5. If you are interested in this book, you should already be aware of the importance of XML. Perhaps you already have used it elsewhere. More importantly, you should already have the basics of Perl. The book does not start from scratch on it. Though it assumes no prior knowledge of XML. It shows what can be done in Perl, to parse, change and write XML. Numerous modules already exist, especially for parsing. You really do not want to write an XML parser!
   
   Once you've understood enough to have your own custom XML files and be able to write Perl to read and display these, then it should get easier. Those initial steps can then easily be modified as your XML data and analysis changes.

5 comments about XML for ASP.NET Developers (Kaleidoscope).

1. This book does a good job explaining the ins and outs of XML programming with the .Net Framework.

   These are the types of books you need to look for. Take a small part of the .Net framework and give it a decent amount of coverage. Overall, the examples are fairly substantial and apply very well to real world programming situations.




2. Dan Wahlin is one of the top experts on XML, and this book is absolutely fantastic. Almost every question that I have ever had about working with XML and .NET has been answered... except that I don't use C#. So, I always need a translator.

   If you use C#, this is the perfect book. If you don't, learn to translate from it, cuz this is the best book around.




3. I bought the book a month ago and stayed idle in my library until I started using SQL2000 Web Notifications and needed some extra help on the principles.

   And that was it. I can only tell you that it kept me reading it for three consequtive days, enough time to keep myself going, understand may parts, realise many possibilities/options and even optimise some code. This is not a book to solve a particular problem but it is a book to get you all excited about XML/XSLT/XLink/XPath and realise how this have been integrated to many of Microsoft Applications... (Notifications is one, CS2002 another).

   I regret that I havent had that book before hand. It would have saved me many more hours of searching.

   The only minus is that it makes you so excited that you end up spending another couple $$$ on other books to get into more details so I just shopped...
   1 of: XPath and XPointer
   1 of: Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming
   1 of: XSLT and XPath On The Edge, Unlimited Edition
   1 of: XSLT Programmer's Reference 2nd Edition

   couple this with Professinal C# (2nd Edition) or even Beginning C# and you can do most things imaginable with c# and XML.

   Thank you Dan.




4. I just bought this book. But I don't know where to download the example code? Please help me.



5. While I've understood the basics of XML for some time, I've just not had a need until recently to dig into the nuts and bolts of working with it on the .NET platform. As an ASP.NET developer specifically, and with that need to know now on the table, I went on the hunt for books to help, and Mr. Wahlin's offering was an obvious choice.

   First off, Mr. Wahlin is a terrific writer. The clear, friendly, and conversational tone of the book resonated for me, although I did find some of the verbosity and repetition a bit excessive in some spots.

   The book begins with a good review of XML concepts, more than enough for a newbie, but easy to sift through for the more seasoned reader in need of a knowledge refresher. It continues through all the necessary concepts, including the XML classes in .NET, transformations, and of course, ADO.NET, the database core of the .NET platform. (On ADO.NET, it includes a general introduction, but of course focuses on it in an XML context.)

   I have to say that one of the best outcomes of reading the book and experimenting with what I learned along the way is that many of the ADO.NET concepts that still seemed abstract to my not-quite-up-to-OOP brain suddenly fell into place and made much more sense to me when tied to the structures and concepts of XML.

   No book is perfect, and I could have used some more detailed coverage in some areas. But overall, it's a great walk through the world of XML for the seasoned ASP.NET developer in need the grand tour. It sure was a help to me...

2 comments about MS Excel 2002 VBA/XML Programming and ASP.

1. A very useful book for me. Her style and organization make an excellent complement to the more Microsoft-inspired style and organization of material of other experts. Her "warp" to their "woof." She's got a new one on Excel coming out in late 2005 and I'll definitely get it.



2. What a delight to be able to actually "read" a book on VBA.
   The writer is lucent and accessible and does not try to con you into the belief that VBA is a 15 hr.learning curve. Explanations are clear and the text will serve as an excellent reference source for years to come.
   Watch out Mr Spreadsheet/Mr Excel here is a writer who not only knows her subject inside out but is able to impart this knowledge in a painless fashion that others simply cannot!

5 comments about Platinum Edition Using XHTML, XML & Java 2 (Platinum Edition Using).

1. I bought this weighty tome (AU$115) because it had a section on XML and Java and some specific code that appeared to be what I needed for an urgent project. Firstly, the book did not come with a CD, so you had to download the code. Once you downloaded the code, it became apparent that the code for the chapter I was interested in (chapter 42) was not amongst it. I had to type it all in. I had difficulty compiling the code, which may have been some misunderstanding on my behalf. I finally got it to compile; but kept getting runtime errors. I couldn't get it to work.

   I gave up.

   I expect when I purchase a book, that most if not all (no one is perfect) the examples will work. I also believe that expensive and expansive books like this one should come with a CD that not only fully reflects the code in the book; but also contains a HTML version of the book as well to facilitate searching.

   My comments only reflect upon the Java XML chapter 42. I have been reluctant to use the book any further. I hope the next edition rectifies the present short-comings.




2. Platinum Edition XHTML, XML & Java 2 is separated into several sections, each of which focuses on a specific technology, including: XHTML, XML, JavaScript, Dynamic HTML, CGI programming with Perl, Server-side Programming with ASP, ColdFusion & PHP, and Java 2. Throughout the book, the authors focus on the features & benefits of each technology, giving readers a well-rounded education in current web development tools & techniques. In addition, the authors demonstrate the value of combining various technologies (such as Java & XML) for more powerful web solutions. User Level: Intermediate - Advanced,



3. I am a professional web designer and have wanted to further my skills into the relm of web development. I found this book and started reading it immediately. It is an excellent resource for web design and development as a whole. It goes into technologies such as ASP, PHP, Java 2, Usability and Design rules, Creating Graphics, basic web design fundamentals, CGI, a little C, Coldfusion, Perl, XSL, XSLT, XHTML, SSI, CSS, DHTML, JavaScript, VBScript, database design, ADO, just about everything. It gives a great introduction (40-60 pages or more)into most of the technologies used in web design and development and goes in depth on XML, XHTML and Java 2 best of all it tells how all the above technologies can work together. Not only xml and xhtml. but how ASP and perl relate. No it doesnt come with a CD but I have had no problem compiling the code and getting it to work. A CD would have been nice but the information in the book is so useful that its worth the price without the CD. It is easy to read (if your into reading computer books) and is the best resource that I have found on web development technologies and how they relate to each other. It is a great book and I recommend it highly to any college student aspiring to get into web work (as long as they know HTML) or any professional web designer or developer at any level. This book is a must have.



4. I am a network security engineer, not a Web developer. When I first saw this book's title, I realized I lacked an understanding of XHTML, XML, Java, and other subjects listed in the table of contents. The book's 2.5 inch thickness and 1400 pages were daunting, but skimming the first few chapters showed the text to be lively and informative. I gambled that I could at least gain some familiarity with modern Web technologies by buying this book.

   That gamble paid in spades. This book will provide a computer-familiar reader an idea of the plumbing behind modern Web sites. The text describes many varieties of Web-building tools, and includes clear explanations, examples, and code. I especially enjoyed learning from the book's dozens of figures. These typically show the results of executing example code, with the captions giving excellent summaries of points made in the text. For example, rather than writing "Here is a sample of Netscape Dynamic HTML layers," the caption on p. 684 says "Netscape Dynamic HTML layers can be used to show context-sensitive information on your Web pages."

   I could not find any faults with this book, although Web development is not my specialty. If you are looking for a book to make you an expert in any one or two of the subjects covered (i.e., JavaScript, Dynamic HTML, even XHMTL), you will not be satisfied. The authors recognize this point and direct focused readers to more comprehensive sources. If you are looking for a guide to what makes Web surfing and serving work at a technical level, I strongly recommend this book. Keep in mind that rapidly evolving Web processes can make books like this less relevant as time passes. If you believe this particular edition is becoming obsolete, be confident that the authors' next edition will be just as educational.

   Note: I congratulate the editors and four authors for creating a "cohesive" 1400 page book. I was pleased to see each chapter explicitly bearing the individual author's name, and glad to see seamless references to work in chapters by different co-authors. Bravo Que.




5. Not as comprehensive as I thought. The only best thing of this book is that it talks about almost all the web languages, give you the basic understanding.