Overview
XML, the Extensible Markup Language, is a W3C endorsed standard for document markup. Because of its ability to deliver portable data, XML is positioned to be a key web application technology.
Given the complexity and incredible potential of this powerful markup language, it is clear that every serious developer using XML for data or text formatting and transformation will need a comprehensive, easy-to- access desktop reference in order to take advantage of XML's full potential. XML in a Nutshell will assist developers in formatting files and data structures correctly for use in XML documents.
XML defines a basic syntax used to mark up data with simple, human-readable tags, and provides a standard format for computer documents. This format is flexible enough to be customized for transforming data between applications as diverse as web sites, electronic data inter-change, voice mail systems, and wireless devices, to name a few.
Developers can either write their own programs that interact with, massage, and manipulate the data in XML documents, or they can use off-the-shelf software like web browsers and text editors to work with XML documents. Either choice gives them access to a wide range of free libraries in a variety of languages that can read and write XML.
The XML specification defines the exact syntax this markup must follow: how elements are delimited by tags, what a tag looks like, what names are acceptable for elements, where attributes are placed, and so forth. XML doesn't have a fixed set of tags and elements that are supposed to work for everybody in all areas of interest for all time. It allows developers and writers to define the elements they need as they need them.
Although XML is quite flexible in the elements it allows to be defined, it is quite strict in many other respects. XML in a Nutshell covers the fundamental rules that all XML documents and authors must adhere to, detailing the grammar that specifies where tags may be placed, what they must look like, which element names are legal, how attributes attach to elements, and much more.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewTrying to capture all of XML in one compact book is like trying to capture the universe moments after the Big Bang: Things are expanding in an awful hurry. But this tutorial and reference comes close.
Elliotte Rusty Harold and W. Scott Means organize XML in a Nutshell -- and by extension XML itself -- into four sections. The first offers clear, to-the-point explanations of the key concepts every XML user and developer needs to understand -- from elements and attributes to well-formedness, DTDs to namespaces. Section II covers the XML technologies most widely used in what the authors call "narrative-centric" documents -- from web pages through gigantic Defense Department documentation manuals. Here's where they introduce XHTML, basic XSL Transformations, XPath, Xlinks, Xpointers, Cascading Style Sheets, and the evolving XSL Formatting Objects specification.
Section III addresses XML's role as the data format of choice for Internet-based information sharing and storage. Harold and Means introduce XML programming models, then offer quick introductions to both DOM and SAX.
Like most O'Reilly ...in a Nutshell books, XML in a Nutshell ends with a comprehensive reference section, presenting syntax, descriptions, attributes, and in the case of DOM, Java bindings and example code.
There are a few things missing -- for example, coverage of SOAP, and of specialized XML applications such as MathML. But overall, the book succeeds admirably in its goals: to become your first-line source whenever you need to learn something new about XML. (Bill Camarda) (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.