Markup Languages Books

This is a colorful and attractive book that tells you everything you may ever need to know about creating multimedia presentations using SMIL 2.0, the second release of the World-Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language Recommendation. SMIL is an XML language for creating multimedia presentations, integrating media, temporal control and interactivity. A SMIL presentation can contain a combination of any types of media. SMIL itself is media "agnostic", and includes most media types by referencing their URL's rather than embedding them in the SMIL file itself.

The authors, Bulterman and Rutlege, are respected multimedia researchers and were key contributors to both the SMIL 1.0 and SMIL 2.0 Recommendations. They were personally involved in drafting and testing a significant portion of the standard, and the company that Bulterman used to lead, Oratrix, developed one of the first full implementations of the SMIL 2.0 language, Grins. So these guys know what they are talking about.

While the W3C SMIL 2.0 Recommendation (http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/REC-SMIL2-20050107/) is primarily written for SMIL implementors and XML language designers incorporating SMIL features into their XML-based language, the book is written for multimedia content authors. The book begins with an overview of SMIL 2.0, with six example presentations that show how SMIL can be used, some history, and a guide to the organization of the SMIL 2.0 standard. The next chapter gives a brief but useful introduction to SMIL 2.0 code including the major components of the language: structure, media, layout, timing, linking, and control.

Further chapters go into each of these areas in much greater depth, explaining all of the options and features in each component (terms module in SMIL 2.0) of the language. And there are many! To support fully featured, interactive, and attractive multimedia features that allow infinite flexibility in the look and feel of a multimedia presentation, SMIL 2.0 has a ton of features and options. In addition to the components already listed, there is animation (my favorite), transition effects, media clipping, advanced layout, extended control, and metadata. Bulterman and Rutlege do a good job of presenting a lot of material in an organized and attractive manner, with lots of examples.

By and large, the features in SMIL 2.0 are straightforward and intuitive to use, However, as is true in any standard developed to meet the needs of many separate groups (SMIL 2.0, for example), SMIL 2.0 is a large language with some potential pitfalls, and there are some also "doozers" and "gotchas". By necessity, the SMIL timing model is complex. While usually intuitive, in some particular cases the timing elements and attributes can interact in initially surprising ways. For another example, there are two kinds of SMIL XML for representing transitions, and all transitions may not be available in all platforms. The authors calmly guide the reader through all this. Backward compatability between versions of SMIL, including the oddly named 'skip-content' attribute is another complex subject clearly presented.

This book is both more comprehensive and much more attractively presented than any other book on SMIL that I have seen. The "insiders" view of SMIL that authors have is used to round out the explanations and rationale for things to good effect. Overall this is a great book for any multimedia content developer who is using or considering using SMIL 2.0. It will also be useful to SMIL implementation developers as another source of information when reading and implementing the recommendation documents. Lastly it should be of interest to students studying multimedia as an in-depth guide to a specific comprehensive multimedia presentation architecture.

Aaron M. Cohen
Chairman of the W3C Synchronized Multimedia Working Group (produced the SMIL 2.0 Recommendation)

This is a remarkable book, and by far the most authoritative guide available for the SMIL languages. It serves a broad audience, and combines a readable style with complete expertise in the subject matter.

For authors, the book provides an easy-to-understand explanation of the language principles and syntax. Many useful examples illustrate the features, and provide useful authoring templates. Bulterman and Rutledge's experience with multimedia authors and authoring comes through in the many tips and hints for addressing real-world issues and avoiding potential pitfalls. All examples are provided online as well, along with demos and other resources.

For the serious student or implementer, the book provides detailed explanations of the underlying models for layout, timing and animation. These sections benefit from the combined experience of the book's authors as leading members of the W3C standards group that developed the SMIL languages. Their understanding of the details is clearly beyond that of most other authors on this subject.

The book design itself is interesting and fun. Graphics in the margins mark the chapters, with key chapters featuring flipbook-like graphic "animations". It has a comfortable layout and organization and an excellent index. If I have a complaint, it is that I do not find the graphics summarizing syntax features to be very intuitive. Fortunately, the text and examples provide sufficient syntax reference.

Authors of web multimedia as well as academics and professionals integrating or implementing SMIL language features will find this an invaluable addition to their reference bookshelf - I strongly recommend it.

This is an excellent overview of VoiceXML. In addition to a thorough discussion of the VXML language and technologies, the author had the great idea of illustrating the material via a Personal Information Manager project (address book, calendar, and to-do list), which the reader creates while reading along. IMHO, this is by far the most practical of the VoiceXML books that I own. I learned quite a bit, and have even been able to create a number of useful VXML apps on my own since reading it.

This is a great book. It is an example of how a modern
technical book should be written to really teach the
reader both the substance of the subject and the context
in which that subject is meaningful. There is high level
motivation throughout the book which enables the reader
looking for an overview of Voice XML and how it relates
to technologies used with it. There is technical detail
that will enable the software engineer to understand
the technical foundations and how they relate to technologies
used with Voice XML such as XSLT, JSP, HTML, JavaScript, etc.
In addition, there is an architectural framework of browsers,
gateways, web servers, servlets, grammars, telephony, and
the transformational processing model, which is concisely
presented with the essential concepts needed to understand
how all these technologies are woven into a cohesive
structure to enable the building of Voice XML and multimedia
applications. If that is not enough, there is working example

provided which is explained throughout the book, and it is
even presented in a UML framework which will be useful to
engineers who want a good example of effective use of UML.
And there is a CD, and associated web site, with both the
application and all the tools you need to build and test
the example - note: some of the tools like XML Spy, IBM
WebSphere, Allaire JRun, and Apache Cocoon may have time
limits, so don't install the software until you are ready
to spend the time necessary to set up and test the
application. Finally, the book is written at an extremely
intelligent level and the reader may find some of the
philosophies like cognition and artificial intelligence
stimulating. Sounds like a lot for a 200 page book, but
the author has succeeded in delivering all the above and
more in a manner that should serve as a model for
presenting new technologies.

This is a good book, albeit somewhat misnamed--it should be called "Web Development and Management." The first part of the book reviews XHTML, HTML, XML and CSS and their role in Web development--this is great information and is the first thing I've read that clearly outlines how all of this fits together. The second part provides a lot of information for managing web projects--everything from site and application design approaches to understanding how to deal with technical issues like making pages load quickly and designing for various browsers. There is a lot of valuable information here. The last part reviews CGI processing on servers and outlines many of the tools available for developing web applications, for content and site management (link checkers, performance monitors etc.)--all really useful, although some of the content will be somewhat out of date. Fortunately, the book web site seems to have been updated and contains other information including an extremely useful online reference page.

The author really knows how to transmit the subject matter to his audiance. I was really impressed by his approach. He begins by creating a big picture and then proceeds to show you how each element fits into the whole scheme of things. This is all done in simple straight-forward english. I strongly recommend the book to both beginners and inter-mediate web developers. This one is a keeper.

I don't know how many times I have come across a problem or a question that a colleague or I have, but are not able to recall which book the material was covered in. That problem is solved with this collection of books bound on CD. Every single one of the books on this CD are written so well and are so easy to access that if you are looking for anything regarding XML this book is a must have.

My only gripes about the series are that only one of the books encompasses the general ideas of XML. Each book, other than nutshell, has its own detail-oriented way of discussing the topic at hand. You must really read each one (read skim) to really get exactly what you are looking for. Maybe I was looking for more reference type material, but the collection is still awesome.

My goodness, this one is a whammy!! Aside from a hard copy 2nd edition of XML in a Nutshell, the CD contains the complete editions of the same book XML in a Nutshell (2nd Edition), XSLT, XML Schema, SAX2, Java & XML (2nd Edition), Java and XSLT, and Perl & XML. Each one of these books is deserving of its own review, but suffice it to say that having them all on CD just makes it more convenient to carry around. (I already have reviews on XML in a Nutshell and Java and XML.)

Developing a hernia by carrying the hard copy editions of these around is not my idea of a good time, so having the CD takes the cake. Of course, you'll need a laptop to actually be able to make use of the CD, and that'll leech battery power if you don't have a socket handy, so it's a toss-up either way. Still, the CD edition is searchable, so that you don't have to wiggle through the index of 7 books just to find that reference you needed.

All in all, a great deal!

I think it is a very good book. It describes several actors in the XML data storage world. It also points out several strategies to deal with XML in relational databases.
It is very easy to read and the language is very clear.
Some experience in XML and how to store it is recommended in order to get the most of it.
I really enjoyed the chapter on eXist as it really goes into details about the index and storage architecture. It is stays quite high level though.
It helps you understand pros and cons of the different products and architectures (client/server as opposed to embedded).
Everyone dealing with XML storage should read it.

At our company, we write Java applications. Soon, we got to the point that we needed a more formal way to read/write data than merely an ad hoc approach. We use XML. The obvious approach is to use a well tested relational database, like those supplied by IBM, Oracle or Microsoft. A problem was getting detailed, objective explanations of what would be involved with each choice. Each vendor is perfectly willing to be our "friend" and supply us with reams of documentation. But still...

The chapters in this book that describe how to hook up XML to those 3 vendors' databases were excellent and clear.

But what we ended up doing was going with something suggested in ANOTHER chapter - building an embedded XML database. You will not see this advocated by a vendor; there is no sale for them here. Other than this book, we found it tough to get lucid explanations of the pros and cons of this route. It will take more work, but we hope it will give better performance - no interprocess communication, for one thing. Plus of course no licence fees, and easier installation and management, since we will have access/own all the source code. This was not our original intention, by any means. But the book's comparative analysis was so persuasive that we ended up taking this road. (Hopefully, it will not be a dead end.)

That one chapter on embedded XML databases was, to us, the most precious thing in the entire book!

If you are looking for a book to learn basics of Microsoft Access then you are looking at the wrong book. If you want to impress your boss with Access Macros, it is again a wrong book.
It is however an excellent book that covers the whole nine-yard of Microsoft Access VBA development. It starts out directly into basics of Modules and Visual Basic Editor environment. Takes you quickly through basics of VBA. This is followed by details on how you can use VBA on MS Access Database (and on other external databases through MS Access). Book lives up to its title, it is loaded with excellent examples of VBA code. I read through some of the other Access VBA books before getting this book and on side-by-side comparison; this book stands out in depth, examples and detail.

I work with a lot of school leavers and people outside IT and often have to advise them on how to empower themselves in IT in the right way. Surely SQL and databases are one of the first topics people should understand. HTML was also high on the list. With this book, the author has combined all of them in one making it a very relevant combination for today's beginner. I will recommend this book to school leavers, financial people and people outside IT wanting to empower themselves quickly. Another great advantage of XML and databases is the platform independence. Very well done to the author for combining these topics at the entry level in such an easiliy understandable way!

This book has a great, easy-to-read style and the case study actually shows how to use these technologies in real life. It clearly explains how to use ADO.NET and XML to build data-intensive applications. The writers clearly know what they are talking about and have been in the trenches.

Joe Mitola is the 'father' of both software-defined radio (SDR) and cognitive radio, a term he coined in 1998. Not surprisingly, this is the definitive book on the latter and should be read in conjunction with Bruce Fette's equally excellent book "Cognitive Radio Technology".
Mitola's job at MITRE Corp. is over-the-horizon thinking, and he certainly delivers here. Mitola defines a cognitive radio as "the integration of substantial computational intelligence--particularly machine learning, vision, and natural language processing--into software-defined radio (SDR). CR embeds a RF-domain intelligent agent as a radio and information access proxy for the user." While an intelligent handset is a way off (5G?), all of the underlying technologies are available today in portable devices. Designer engineers would do well to read this volume to see where the future of wireless communication lies.

The book is easy reading and very...extremely informative! My copy is worn, very worn. The examples given work, and there are sections for nearly every aspect of web development. Keep in mind though, it was written in 1996. Any developments since then are not covered. I can't wait for a second edition...hope there's one in the works! thanks Mr. Shafran