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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Simon St. Laurent's foray into XML is best described by an adjective not often used with computer books: charming. From its portable size to its playful code examples, XML: A Primer is an interesting and well-crafted read. Stylistic considerations aside, it is also a useful introduction for anyone who does considerable work in HTML or SGML. St. Laurent explains the nuanced differences between XML and HTML, stating, "Using XML requires a different focus, demanding that designers examine the way that their documents are built rather than the way they are formatted." He later comments, "XML doesn't go nearly as far as SGML in requiring conformance to standards, but it may still come as a shock to HTML developers. XML standards refer to processors (parsers), not to browsers, because much XML development will be intended for machine-readable data applications rather than graphically exciting web pages." If you are curious about the hype surrounding XML, ready for an XML book you can read cover to cover, and comfortable with lengthy code examples, XML: A Primer will offer you the knowledge you need to understand this emerging technology. Book Description
You spend hours designing and formatting your Web pages to look just right, but when users log on to your site -- wham! -- all your carefully formatted data is scattered helter-skelter across the page! Now theres no need to curse the quirks of HMTL. Instead, skip over all those cumbersome and redundant HTML tags and jump to the head of the class with XML (eXtensible Markup Language), the new technology being developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. XML offers all the power of HTML and SGML... read more Synopsis
Simon St. Laurent gets readers up to speed on this new technology quickly by describing how to create and implement Document Type Definitions (DTDs), integrate XML with other technologies, and apply XML to commerce. The author, Simon St.Laurent , October 18, 1997
Introducing XML to HTML Developers
HTML developers need to prepare for yet another revolution. XML is far more than a flexible version of HTML that lets you choose your own tags - XML will change the way web developers, database designers, and client-server programmers work. This guide to XML shows developers how XML fits into the current landscape of emerging standards. It presents a complete guide to the syntax of XML, explaining how to create well-formed and valid XML documents. Style sheets, including the Cascading Style... read more The publisher, techpr@idgbooks.com , September 20, 1999
Completely revised to cover the latest technologies
This practical guide will teach you how to build smarter Web sites using XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Whether you're porting data-driven applications or searching for a better way to manage documents on your site. "XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed." will get you quickly up to speed on this next-generation authoring tool. With new visual examples, clear explanations, and a splash of humor, author Simon St. Laurent shows you how to harness XML's power and flexibility to create intelligent, efficient,... read more
Customer Reviews of the Day (what's this?)
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
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this book is a perfect primer
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April 6, 2000
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Reviewer:
Michael Witt
from Chicago, IL
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It's not very often that you find a book that lines up with your level of experience and curiousity, but this Primer was a perfect match for me. As a webmaster with 5 years of scripting and markup experience, I appreciated that this book didn't waste any time with HTML. It is an excellent entry point to XML - I couldn't imagine there being a better one out there. It answers "what is XML?" and "how can I use it?" and gets immediately to these points. The author very effectively uses the book itself as an example of what an XML document looks like - i.e. he goes back and scripts an actual chapter in markup. It is very well written (I read 150 pages in one sitting two weeks ago.) Some people might complain that there is too much focus on creating documents and not enough detail about enabling e-commerce, but I think this aproach is necessary. I have since purchased other more detailed books on the particular facets of XML that I'm going to implement for e-commerce, but I wouldn't have gotten here so quickly if it wasn't for this primer. Very highly recommended if you are a webmaster and you don't need the HTTP and HTML background & want to jump directly into XML.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
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The quickest way to get right to writing XML
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May 8, 1998
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Reviewer:
m.kragen@mailexcite.com
from Fairfax, VA
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I have read other books on XML but found them to be too advanced, expecting you to already know a great deal about SGML and about Java, which most parsers are written in. But St. Laurent starts you off at the beginning, going step by step through building a DTD and an ordinary document, explaining the purposes of each and giving you rules you can look back to to make sure you are doing this properly. It is the best transition from HTML to XML I have seen so far.
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All Customer Reviews
Avg. Customer Review:
Number of Reviews: 21
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
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XML technology in its dawn
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January 21, 2000
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Reviewer:
Lubomir Masar
from Houston, Texas
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The recent book by Simon St. Laurent brought me really delectable reading about things I have never heard before. Nonetheless, it tremendously instigated my interest in this field. As for the content of his book, I highly value very comprehensible style with many straighforward examples and even more references to websites. The book is not just a primer - I consider it small beginner's encyclopaedia to the future of web. We may wish more such books by him, e.g. about CSS and topics related to XML documents formatting. If I could dare to evaluate the book in brief, I would say: well done!
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
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Good introduction, Easy Read
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January 10, 2000
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Reviewer:
bthaile
from Houston, TX
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It was an easy read. Not a very technical book had easily understood xml examples. I liked all the references to outside sources for further details. Did well in introducing DTD, CSS, XSL. I would like more on database generated xml, dealing with the database structure.
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See all 21 customer reviews...
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