Overview
—Master the newest and hottest building block of the web, XML. Our experts lead you step by step through everything from the basics to data design, tools, and applications.—This Premium Edition contains all the detailed techniques, tips, and real world case studies of our original, but is enhanced with additional case studies, all the new specs, and bonus reference materials.
—CD includes all the code in the book and numerous third—party tools.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewThe next generation of XML books starts with Mastering XML, Premium Edition. This book covers schemas, not just DTDs; real industry vocabularies, not just abstract plans for them; and next-generation standards (such as SOAP and XML Query), not just the old stand-bys.
It covers all the basics (creating XML Documents, elements, attributes, entities, and so forth), but also offers the newcomer an up-to-date look at who's now using XML, and what they're using it for. There are detailed chapters on each key XML standard, including several that have only recently emerged. For instance, there's in-depth coverage of XSL-FO, which gives content managers the type of visual control they're accustomed to in tools like QuarkXPress and PageMaker, without compromising the incredible value added by XML. There's a detailed chapter on SMIL for delivering multimedia across the Web; and another on the XML-based SVG standard for web graphics.
There's a lot here we haven't seen in any other XML book. For example, there's a chapter-length introduction to the Dublin Core, an ambitious attempts to define common semantic building blocks for web metadata, which can be used to simplify search and retrieval across diverse subject areas. That's just one of several case studies, ranging from DocBook to .NET.
Finally, we like the selections chosen for this book's CD-ROM. There are free, open source tools (notably, Apache Cocoon, the pure-Java, XML-based open source web content publishing framework.) The selection of trialware is intriguing as well (for instance, Tibco Turbo XML, an IDE for developing and managing XML assets, and HP Bluestone's total-e-server, a very serious option for e-business application infrastructure. (Bill Camarda)
Bill Camarda is a consultant and writer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.