Just XML Book

Just XML isn't a book meant for die-hard programmers who are hell-bent on using XML--it's a book that explains the whys and wherefores of XML's design, and what one might use it for. But then again, if you're just starting to learn XML, you're going to need this anyway.The eternal problem is that there really aren't a lot of browsers that interpret XML and even for those that do, there are vast differences. And this presents a lot of challenges for the XML book writer--how do you explain a technology that, in many ways, isn't quite done yet? Enter Just XML.Unlike most programming guide authors, John Simpson is extremely chatty and spends a lot of his time walking you through the concepts behind XML. With good, clean writing, Simpson is extremely good at anticipating the questions a novice might have.But the book has some fairly annoying flaws. For one thing, the organisation's a little backwards--Simpson sometimes spends more time explaining why things work than what they are supposed to be doing. If you are not sure why you'd want to use a particular XML feature at this point in the document, you might get baffled. And the very informal nature of this book is sure to annoy serious programmers who just want the facts.But when it comes down to it, the XSLT chapter is golden, the explanations are as good as they are going to get for a kind of vague topic, and frankly, I'd recommend it to anybody who needs an idea of what XML is for and what it can do. But once you get that down, you will probably need another set of XML tutorials to nail down your XML syntax knowledge. --William SteinmetzRead More