XML: Extensible Markup Language [With Contains Explorer 4, Communicator, Source Code...]

This book has been updated by Elliotte Harold and for some unfortunate reason is now called The XML Bible. (unfortunate for me, I just got this book to discover that it's completely revised. I'm out $32.)

I saw that other people made some comments about the XSL not being mentioned all too often in this book. That's true. But this book goes way beyond XSL and that is important, because XML is more than converting XML into HTML.I can recommend this book to everybody who wants to understand XML quickly. This book guides you from the basics to advanced topics such as the DTD in a clear and straightforward manner.

After reading several dismal XML books (including The XML Handbook), XML by Elliotte Harold is by far the most concise and thorough study of XML I have read to date. This book will take a reader from XML fundamentals to developing XML applications. The topics covered in depth are XML, XSL, and DTDs.The book covers the topic of XML and related technologies in a clear and concise manner. Focusing on actual relevant examples, Harold demonstrates how XML is used and how to begin thinking in an XML perpective. The emphasis on actual usage and thinking in XML is the primary advantage of this book.The Quick Reference and Appendices alone are well worth the cost of the book. Rarely do I see a text where I read the 300 or so pages of text and am then able to immediately understand everything in the Quick Reference. This is a testament to Harold's lucid teaching style. Good description, useful applications, clear explanations, reinteration of critical points, and good summarizations are the halmarks of this excellent work.

Over the past few weeks, I thumbed through the available books on XML with a growing sense of frustration. I was certain that SOMEWHERE there would be a single volume that could provide hype-free introduction to XML that would tell me:1) How to create XML documents, 2) How to "render" XML documents in presentable formats without spending time programming, 3) How to read and (eventually) write DTDs for customized XML applications.Elliotte Rusty Harold has written a clear, step-by-step introduction that accomplishes all of the above, with plenty of explanation and examples, but without the hyperbole and over-selling that seems to attend almost every new technical concept these days.THANK YOU, ELLIOTTE!

I've enjoyed ERH's JavaBeans book and both his Cafe au Lait (Java) and Cafe con Leche XML News and Resources web sites. So maybe I was predisposed toward liking his XML book. However, it stands on its own merit. ERH begins with a history of XML (very useful for newcomers) and gradually takes you from just a sprinkle of XML to a detailed examination of the syntax, much like the better traditional programming texts. Harold's writing is clear and concise. He presents quite a bit about XSL (Extensible Style Language, not even a Working Draft at the time of this writing, so expect the details to change). Very good coverage of DTDs and XLink/XPointer. Throughout the book, he gives you an idea of best practices. If you are a programmer or web developer about to use XML, buy this book! (Managers would probably prefer the Goldfarb/Prescod XML Handbook.)