Markup Languages Books

* Contiene tambien bastante código re-utilizable, que es bueno tambien, sim embargo, la mayoría de estos los encuentras en internet.

* El problema con este libro, es que está enfocado a programación básica, no entra en detalles como Bases de datos, Macromedia, e incluso scripts.

* Lo recomiendo para aquellas personas que deseen empezar en esto. Es fácil de leer, y con bastantes ejemplos.

Suerte!

* Para los que son nuevos en esto, está perfecto.

* Para el que quiere crecer sus conocimientos en el Desarrollo de Internet, no es muy bueno.

* Para el que es muy autodidacta, no se lo recomiendo, ya que puede aprender todo lo que viene en el libro, en el mismo Internet.

Reutilizar código es bueno, pero tambien necesitamos saber al 100% cómo realizarlo.

El CD que viene con el libro, es bueno. Tiene muchas imágenes que puedes utilizar en caso de saber manipularlas.

Suerte!

I think this book is not suiatable for SAX begginers. If you want to begging SAX, you may reading the SAX chapter in the general books of XML before reading this book. And I recommend the book "Begging XML" (David Hunter, Wrox).

Though a little hard to reading, this book provide many useful and valuable example code. And it really discuss every topic deeply and in detail, so readers should take time to understand the core meaning of the author.

But after reading 4 chapters I must say that the book is poorly written. This book confirms to me that insight is one thing and ability to express the ideas is another.

The book is divided into 6 chapters. There are some good programs that are small and crispy. But the explanations are awkward. There are some mistakes/typos as well.

I really like the way the book progresses naturally from the basics of the API to more advanced concepts. And there are plenty of examples and that is a key, I think, to the success of a technical book -- that it can actually demonstrate the concepts it teaches in a way that can be quickly grasped and even implemented. The book is brief, concise, and very up to date as well.

I think just about any SAX programmer will learn something new and worthwhile from this book. While I found a few typos in the book, they are easy to forgive in light of the overall value of the book.

Now another thought....XML. A new technology which was designed to be portable, compatible and server side, which means no trouble with the user's computers. regardless of how intimidating XML might seem, it is the future and needs to be addressed. SVG was designed to be used with XML and XML was designed for both web and application development. The focus on PHP, Perl and other scripting languages was given too little focus. Old information and technology does not constitute a good resource. This book was a poor example of the true power of SVG and will lead many new developers into the pitfall of using javascript which is doomed for extinction.

The book consists of six parts: "SVG fundamentals", "Programming SVG Client-Side", "Producing SVG Server-side", "Case Studies", "Looking Ahead", and "Appendices". You will need to download most of the Appendices ("B: SVG Elements Reference", "C: SVG Attributes and Properties Reference" and "D: SVG Document Object Model (DOM)") as only appendix "A: Glossary" is actually included in the book.

Each of the chapters that discuss the actual language ends with a discussion of the part of the DOM that applies to what was discussed in each chapter. Unfortunately, this is too boring to read as tutorial, and at the same it is too unorganized to be used as a reference (the 'discussion' of the entire DOM spreads out over almost 20 chapters).

With respect to the tutorial part of each chapter: whenever I came across parts that were likely to trip my trigger, I was disappointed to read that all the really interesting details "are provided in the SVG 1.0 Recommendation." However, your mileage may vary.

My recommendation is to read some online tutorials (IBM DeveloperWorks and/or the one by David Duce and Ivan Herman) to get an idea of what SVG is all about. Then, if you are interested in doing some SVG 'programming', continue by downloading the aforementioned SVG 1.0 Recommendation and possibily even the SVG Unleashed Appendices. That should give you enough information to avoid the purchase of this book.

This jam-packed HTML and more guide is the most useful HTML guide ever. It comes with a companion CD-ROM that not only has stuff used in the book but also other software thaty can be used for other purposes.

Bottom line -- if you are a beginner wanting to learn HTML, then this is the book for you. It is everything you need to know to start making webpages today!

My advice: pick an XML implementation that fits your environment, read the first chapters on the RFC stuff (how it should look) and pass right on to the chapter for your implementation. Reading all the chapters can be quite confusing.

I look at this book as a complete developer's review and it does help me understand how to program XML quite well, but more real-world examples would be welcome (there is one example in it, but in my opinion it does not cover extensive use of XML in larger environments).

The book starts with a first part to introduce XML. In seven chapters, we learn about the history of XML (and XML vs. HTML), the XML syntax, the old DTD, XSLT, XLink, XPath and XPointer, and finally XML Schemas.

The second part of the book covers the Document Object Model - all about parsing an XML document. DOM is one of the two main approaches you can take when parsing XML. The other is SAX (Simple API for XML), which is covered in part three.

Part four is about Serving XML. This is mainly about viewing XML as data and not as documents. It describes a number of ways in which XML can be generated automatically, for example as text, from a database, using web modules (or InternetExpress), using DOM or SAX, and finally as MIDAS data packet.

The last part of the book covers a number of applications that make use of XML, like an electronic e-mail sender, a customised client and XML examination application (both a Windows client and a Web client). The final chapter of the book even covers SOAP, but not the way Delphi 6 supports SOAP. In fact, I would not use the techniques in this chapter as they are far more complex than the Delphi 6 support (although they do help you understand what's actually happening).

All in all, this is a good book with some detailed coverage of XML and some nice example applications. The first part gives a solid introduction to those without XML knowledge or experience. However, the main thing missing is the lack of real Delphi 6 BizSnap XML coverage (which makes the book "good" but not "very good").