ISBN:1590596765Book Description
Don't waste time on 1,000-page tomes full of syntax; this book is all you need to get ahead in XML development. Renowned web developer Sas Jacobs presents an essential guide to XML. Beginning XML with DOM and Ajax is practical and comprehensive. It includes everything you need to know to get up to speed with XML development quickly and painlessly.
Jacobs begins by presenting an overview of XML--it's syntax, rules, vocabularies, and the hows and whys of validity. She also covers the current state of XML support in today's web browsers. Next, Jacobs covers all of the basic essential uses of XML. You'll learn how to display XML data using CSS, and transform XML data using XSLT. You'll even learn about dynamic XML scripting using the XML DOM.
The last part of the book covers advanced server-side XML uses in real-world applications, including displaying XML data in Flash, and XML-driven PHP and ASP.NET applications. And last but not least, Jacobs provides a perfect introduction to Ajax development.
/p>Reviews From AMAZON.COM
Clearly written with great coverage
Being a developer who uses XML extensively but for very specific applications I was interested in reading this book to help expand my understanding of XML-specific issues as they relate to Ajax and the browser environment.
I feel that Sas has accomplished her mission in giving a very thorough overview of the topic of XML. This book was very well written, clear and concise. Of particular interest to me were the examples of developing with XSLT, using the CSS functionality and developing in tandem with server side scripting. I thought the examples were relevant and the sections that were shorter led me to other resources where I might continue my explorations in depth. I prefer that the author accomplish the stated task and leave deeper explorations for other books - I felt that what was covered was perfect for the length of the book and gave me the information I was looking for based on the title. Interestingly, it's one of those books that I really did read from cover to cover. A rare event for me with computer books.
This is an excellent book for those who are looking to expand their use of XML in development projects for the browser.
Has everything!
Sas Jacobs writes in the Introduction that she wanted this book to be a one-stop shop to learn how to build XML web applications. I think she reached her goal.
Besides being a mouthful, Beginning XML with DOM and Ajax is crammed with just about every XML topic you can think of from both the client and server side. The topics on the client side cover all the usual suspects such as XSLT and DOM. There're also a few odd client side topics covered as well -- such as mixing CSS and XML and using XML with Flash. The server side section of the book is noticeably shorter than the client side. It's really just one chapter doing a quick overview of ASP and PHP related XML tools. At the very end, there are two case studies -- one for ASP and one for PHP -- in which a full XML-based web application is built. These two studies are really great and definitely build on the server side chapter.
All of these topics are covered in a book just over 400 pages long. Now this might be the only time you hear me say this, but I think this book is a little short for all the topics it covers. Don't get me wrong, the coverage is excellent, the examples are numerous, and the case studies are detailed; however, reading this book was a bit like eating incredibly rich chocolate -- even small portions were more than enough to handle.