No comments about New Perspectives on XML - Brief (New Perspectives (Thomson Course Technology)).

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 XML in Action (IT Professional).

1. There are many books on the market that explain XML and what it is and does. This book explains the Microsoft IE DOM, and how to use it in the client. Since Netscape does not support XML, don't look for many examples of how to use it with Netscape. If I had to rely on this book to introduce me to XML, it would fail miserably. However, when I saw the possibilities of using XML to communicate between the client and server in the background, a whole new world opened up for our product. It is now interactive without a screen refresh. We do field level validations in real time. We have dynamic content in dropdown list boxes. This knowledge alone is worth many, many times the price of the book.



2. Decent book, but it's already outdated and the code samples are limited. The background information is still informative, but there isn't enough coverage of the API. The DOM API documentation is out-of-date and few useful examples are given. There is no coverage of the SAX API (which is supposed to be easier to use) whatsoever. None of the examples work with a webserver and only work if you open the file locally! I found myself using the MSDN Online website instead of referring to the book.



3. A great book for those who want to know in very general terms what XML is all about, but who don't actually want to do anything with it.



4. This book is clearly outdated now, in terms of the technology it covers and the advancements that have occured since its release. However, if you are struggling with how XML fits into the real world, I have yet to see better examples than the ones provided in this book.
   
   Don't expect a lot of technical guidance. The focus is really more on introducing XML to the common person. The writing style is informal, and really geared to a broad audience. This book is still a good complement to some of the more current technical guides.



5. That's the strength of this title. It focuses on how xml can and should and is being used in the real world. Too many books documented xml in abstract and in theory and while that's a good place to begin the learning process, it's just not enough.
   
   This was the first xml book I read and it immediately helped me understand 'how' xml should be used as opposed just 'what' xml was. That understanding helped me apply the language to real systems and real business requirements.
   
   Be sure to check out the CD-ROM which contains code examples and supplemental documentation.
   
   Having said all this, I would still recommend you get a purely theory-based book to supplement with this guide because its coverage of the syntax is not completely comprehensive.
   
   Either way, it's higly recommended, especially now when xml has found itself into every corder of the IT world.

5 comments about Professional Java XML Programming with servlets and JSP.

1. I think this isn't a very good obok. First, it's not written in a very clear way, I simply didn't understand everything in the book. However, the biggest reason not to buy this book, YOU HAVE TO READ ALL/MOST OF THE CHAPTERS TO UNDERSTAND PARTS. Why is that bad? Many people, including me, like to read only relevant chapters. For example, if you already know some of the stuff, you skip directly to the right chapter and read from there. You can't really do it here, since the authors create lots of classes they constantly use in later chapters. Thus, it makes the book terribly inconvenient. Maybe this is only my impression, I didn't read all of the book, but after a few chapters that I found myself reading stuff I *DIDN'T WANT TO READ*, I just abandoned this book and moved to another one.



2. After reading through this book, I was not sure if this book is focused on Java programming or XML or Servlets and JSP programming, although it claims to be about how to integrate all these technologies together. The book overall is not very well organized and it is tough sometimes to really make out what the authors are trying to convey. As for the example code, it is not difficult to make out that the authors are from academia and certainly are not developers who hack it out in the real world.



3. I am a professional programmer with a background in C++ Windows programming who started learning JAVA a year ago. I bought this book with the intention of learning how to leverage XML in JAVA apps and servlets. I made it through the first chapter just fine and then all heck broke loose. I could not get the examples to work, the text became as clear as mud and I had to put the book down in disgust because every other chapter in the book lynchpins on knowledge from the previous one. This would not be a good buy in my humble opinion.



4. I bought this book on impulse based on the title alone. Unfortunately this was the first book I bought from this particular publisher. God, I hope the others are not this badly organized.

   As a professional Java programmer who has used all of the tachnologies in this book, I find that there are some good concepts here in terms of high-level OO design. Unfortunately, the organization of the book requires you to read through a lot of superfluous verbiage to get to the meat.

   The criticisms mentioned in other reviews are valid and I won't repeat them here, except to reiterate that the author's academic roots do shine through on this book. The tone is written as if you were sitting in a lecture hall with all the time in world to discuss these concepts and the code examples are not written for performance or high volume traffic on a web site. As a Java professional who writes almost exclusively on the server-side, I found this iritating. There isn't enough time to wade through this book to get what you need when a project is due.




5. I love this book but obviously it is not for novice.

1 comments about Building Web Applications with ADO.NET and XML Web Services (Gearhead Press--In the Trenches).

1. This book has a great, easy-to-read style and the case study actually shows how to use these technologies in real life. It clearly explains how to use ADO.NET and XML to build data-intensive applications. The writers clearly know what they are talking about and have been in the trenches.

No comments about XML Schema Essentials.

1 comments about XML in Data Management: Understanding and Applying Them Together (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems).

1. This book is a good read and full of great real world examples and referencing of products. It is valuable for both managers and individual contributors in functional IT organizations such as data administration, data management, database management, application development, strategic planning. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about XML and Web Services Unleashed.

1. While very thorough, this book is almost as dry to read as the W3 specifications on which the technology is based. Incredibly complex examples are lightly touched on leaving you the reader sifting through (in some cases) pages of listings trying to find the differences between various versions. No effort is made to help steer the user through the examples. While this is a good reference for those with a firm grasp of concepts I think it could be immeasurably better written. Also, huge leaps are being made without examples.

   3 stars for thouroughness of content, 2 deducted for being not in the least bit user-friendly.




2. Not a bad book. Especially if you want to learn some tricks to make for bigger size. For example, chapter 4 XML Schemas consists of 61 pages. 17 of them are REDUNDUND repetitions (I do not count here those that make sense) of the same schema and xml source file. The schema, about 3 pages, placed in the beginning of the chapter. Than they change an attribute in one element and "illustrate" this repeating all 3 pages.
   Systematically an element that with no problem fits in one row spans, nevertheless, two.
   There are some other useful tricks. Find yourself. It's not a bad book.



3. Just about any other book on the subject would have to better than this book. The poor writing turns simple concepts into puzzles. Although I was deeply interested in the subject matter, this book read like a college text book on a subject I was forced to take. I liked the concise code examples, but then I would cringe at the author's explanation of the code. Also to be fair, some portions of the book are actually written clearly. It is very evident that the book was put together by more than one person. Some of the good sections are quite interesting; while other sections are quite comical in a grammatical sense. Furthermore, as a science student, my English is not great. Therefore, it takes a real disaster for me to notice the writing quality.



4. In the world of computer publishing, two brands stand out when you're talking compendiums. Wrox's big red Professional series and SAMS Unleashed in their now familiar orange. Usually hit and miss affairs, 90% of the people who buy this type of book need to dip in and out of it for bits of information. However it's often the case that the quality of the text across its entire length varies quite a bit. Happily, XML and Web Services Unleashed doesn't suffer from this, with its nine author crew well edited to form a unison chorus rather than a disjointed set of voices as can sometimes be the case.

   Its four sections cover most of the current undertakings in XML as well as laying a solid reference for newcomers and those who need a quick refresher. Part 1 sets the scene, covering XML and its immediate counterparts, DTDs and Schemas. We also find its search and link associates XPath, XLink and XPointer covered precisely and well in the following chapter. The approach is pretty standard but written well and information is easy to locate.

   The main part of the book is devoted to building XML-based Applications in Java should the need for non-XML code arise. Logically, this section starts by dealing with XML documents on their own and then how to marry XML into your own applications. The SAX and DOM APIs are covered, but for .NET users, the XML Streaming API is missing. XSL coverage is good but short, covering both XSLT and XSL-FO in 60 pages. Examples of their use continue to appear for several more chapters, but would it have been too much to turn this one chapter into two? Arguably the most important chapter in the section - Integrating XML with Databases - takes a very practical view but again is Java only. .NET users need to wait another seven chapters before a section on ADO.NET can be found hidden in the chapter on XML in Visual Studio .NET

   Skipping past chapters on SVG, XHTML and Content Management, we come to the highlight of the book - three chapters on web services. However, rather than teach us how to build them, the authors have elected to show us how they work, justifying first the architecture of the web services platform and then how SOAP, WSDL and UDDI tie into that structure. It's a great read and brimming with useful information, but best of all is that it gets you, as a programmer, thinking outside of the box.

   Indeed, Section 3 is all about giving you a better appreciation of how XML works and can be applied in today's industries. It covers some of the standards used in the vertical markets of today and how those standards are submitted and ratified, looking in detail at XML in E-Business. Reading this section sequentially, you really do get an appreciation of the scope and size of the efforts being made by XML developers across the world. Finally, Section 4 looks at the nascent efforts of the semantic web community, the justification for their existence and what they have managed so far.

   I said earlier that the editing of this book was good, but if there is a flaw, it's the choice of what to cover in the book. This particular tome tries to cover the past and the future of XML in addition to its present without fully covering any of the three. It also leans towards Java users - .NET and COM heads beware. Beyond the programming chapters though, this is as thorough an expose of XML in its many guises as you're likely to find and it's a good one too. But don't forget to check the table of contents before you buy it.This is XML Unleashed, not XML and Web Services Unleashed. A classic case of marketing misinformation, if ever there was one.




5. This book suffers badly from two problems: multiple authors and padding. Padding makes some of the sections too "chatty", while paradoxically failing in providing a good explanation of the material. Multiple authors makes the quality of the content sections very variable. At best they are adequate, at worst appauling.
   
   Take the XML Schema chapter. Its painful to read, with complex examples badly explained and a more or less random list of individual features explained not very well. Understanding XML Schema by reading this chapter is like learning a foreign language by reading a dictionary.
   
   There are FAR better choices for XML coverage, such as the OReilly series.

5 comments about XML and Java from Scratch.

1. This book is an excellent introduction of XML, as well as XSLT, XSLFO, in conjunction working with Java and SOAP. It clearly explains the fundamental concepts one needs to build a strong foundation. In learning a developer can see how XSL could replace JSP. This will definitely be an interesting battle to watch.



2. In my opinion, The concept would have been good if the content was not so inept. The source code that was associated with this book was dismal, virtually useless. Many times the source code would not give the results in the book, so I found myself doing more trobleshooting than learning.

   Both Que and the author should be ashamed of distributing such an inferior product.




3. This book tries to cover so many things at once --XML, Java, DB concepts, tools, Servlets, -- that it ends up teaching technically nothing. About half the contents of the book are XML non-related stuff.

   The author tries to cover such a programming language like Java in 470 pages of so many things, that he even does some bad practice! For example, he starts teaching a way of reading the contents of a file in Java, and two pages after the example he explain the Exceptions issue. If you're a Java newbie, you'll be on a big trouble unless you read the whole chapter before typing anything. The author even tries to explain the relational database concept by ilustrating it with an Excel sheet!

   I must confess that this book covers just the basics, since it wastes too much time in things it can't cover. This book would be better if it talks about XML only, and leaves Java and other subjects to the pros.

   If you want to "get serious" (like the author says), then buy a book that goes deep into this matter, a book that doesn't talk about everything just to mention a bit of each.




4. I haven't finished the book yet but found it confusing. The examples are not completed, the reader doesn't have an example of the completed exersize. The author assumes the reader is using apache and tomcat servers. I don't know anyone using them, most developers I know use windows 2000 or NT, running IIS. JDOM is still beta and there's a whole chapter dedecated to JDOM, where it could have been spent on explaining SAX and DOM in further detail by applying useful simple examples. Overall I'm not impressed with the book. Better to read it at the book store and look for something better to purchase. Look for a text that uses IIS and not tomcat and apache, unless you are running those servers. This is not a beginners book, also purchase a JAVA/JSP text.



5. This book trying to cover everything among three-tier design within 470 pages, which is impossible. In order to understand this book, I need to read other books, like "Javaservlet" and "Beginning XML". But after I finish those reading, this book is not necessary anymore, so why wast time on this book? Some of the programs in this book are not executable and even worse.....some figures (screen shot) are misplaced.
   My opinion of this book is "terrible"!

No comments about Sams Teach Yourself .NET XML Web Services in 24 Hours (Sams Teach Yourself).