XML Schema Books

This is a useful book for analysts and programmers who are coming from an Entity Relationship Modeling background - and who need to understand the theory and mechanics of developing XML Schemas for applications.

You can expand relation model whatever you like, as long as you have implementation support. Does not see much value of his model, and the book does a poor job presenting the idea.

The book is poorly organized. If one does not know the context of the topic ahead, it would be very hard to follow. The book did not even mention where to download, how to use its companion modeling tool. The reader has to figure that out.

There are a lot of theoretical sections that I don't see necessity to be empasized or even presented.

The author conveyed the idea of AOM (Asset Oriented Modeling), but I am still clueless about the value of this AOM modeling. I am not convinced to adopt this modeling methodology to solve a real world problem. To me, it is just another proprietary practice of modeling, with no or very little pratical value. The material is very difficult to be tied to technical implementation, thus it is only good on paper.

I don't understand why there are so many good comments about this book. But after going through the book briefly, I realized it is a waste of time and money.

This is the best book out there on XML. If you want an intro to XML get Mark Johnson's article "XML for the Absolute Beginner." If you want to go in depth, this is the place to go.

Unlike the hundreds of other books that just describe what XML and XML Schema are, Daum's book gets deeply into why it is the way it is, by exploring how it fits in with conceptual modeling and how you would fit it into a complex environment.

He introduces a beguiling simple example domain (jazz musicians) which he revisits over and over again throughout the book. Through this simple example he works out subtle differences in different approaches to modeling, to schema construction, to constaint definition and modeling and finally how would you map this back to Object or Relational technology.

He introduces Asset Oriented Modeling, which is a form of conceptual modeling more attuned to XML schema model creation. His treatement of polymorphism in Schema, and techniques for evolving schema are as good as I've seen anywhere.

Excellent treatment of constraints, both conceptually as well as practical approaches to realizing the constraints in XPath or XSLT. These were worth the price of the book by themselves.

It's probably too late, but if you get no other book on XML and XML Schemas, this is the one to get.

I just finished reading "Modeling business Objects with XML Schema" for the second time. It is the most useful book on XML modeling that I have read. After defining the ERM and UML modeling techniques, the author introduces AOM (Asset-Oriented Modeling) in a simple and thorough way. The book emphasizes on the best practices for modeling heterogeneous and multi-namespace systems. It emphasizes on the compatibility of the XML Schema with RDF and SQL. The reuse and composition of XML Schemata constitute the main focus of the book. The example given in the book is processed through several iterations and improvements, with complete and clear explanations for improving the XML code. The KLEEN Modeler tool (http://www.aomodeling.org/tools.htm) is used to create the conceptual models throughout the book. Mapping the XML Schema code into SQL, and normalization of the XSD code is clearly defined. The XML metalanguage itself, is concisely and efficiently covered in the book. I highly recommend this book; you learn a lot from this book.

Here we go again, another book from Wrox press written by multiple authors from multiple disciplines. Professional Web 2.0 Programming is another deception for me in that it only provides high level details about web 2.0 and the book contains several chapters of subjects already mentioned over and over again in other books already. Let's start with Chapter 2. Here we have an overview of HTML, CSS, XHTML and DOM. I mean, why is this mentioned here? Is this a WEB 2.0 book or Web 1.0 book? Chapter 3 is about JavaScript and Ajax. What a waste, I already have a JavaScript book no need for half a chapter on JavaScript undefined objects. The other half is about high level design philosophies about Ajax. If this is what is referred to as a professional book on programming I'm really disappointed. Chapter 5 is a rehash of XSL with a mix of SVG. Chapter 6 is a waste of time about rich client applications providing little value to the reader. Chapter 7 is a rehash of the HTTP protocol URI. Chapter 8 is a rehash of XML. Chapter 9 talks about Syndication. Ha! Finally 15 pages worth of WEB 2.0 information via a high level definition of the RSS format. Chapter 11 is about web services, a rehash of other books on the subject.

Basically this book will hardly teach you anything you don't already know. They assume prior knowledge about almost every single topic they cover. They say in the preface that this book is not about java-script DOM, XML, AJAX or any specific technology for that matter. This book is more like some overview of all the technoligies that are used in Web 2.0 sites but none of them are explained in a way that someone without prior knowledge would understand. This book may only be useful for you if you are an experienced web developer with thorough knowledge in both backend and frontend technologies and just looking for some better practices and tips.
Unfortunately there aren't so many people that fit that description.

As per the other reviewer, this book uses one chapter for each topic: eg. HTML/CSS, Javascript, Design Principles, and sometimes not even a whole chapter eg, Chapter 5 includes SVG, XSLT, XPATH, XFORMS, and the discussion about HTML 5 and XHTML 2.0.

Each section only really makes sense if you are already familiar with the topic. If you are familiar with the topic, then the relevant section will only bore you. The areas where you are not so familiar will confuse you.

It seems this book is an attempt to explain Web 2.0 technologies in a really short sharp fashion, from the beginning. Unfortunately, each topic is worthy of its own book. Shrinking 10+ books down to one doesn't work very well.

However, I do think an advanced book that assumes knowledge of these technologies and explains how to integrate them together would be cool.

Since third-party documentation simply does not yet exist for Altova's current XML development suite, I jumped at the chance to order this book and its companion volume on XSLT.

I now wish that I had saved my money.

FORMAT:

First, you need to know what this book is: it's a bound hard-copy of a PDF document. Unfortunately text quality is reminiscent of a low-end, circa-1982 dot matrix printer, and the images are so blurry that they could double as Rorschach tests.

Text refers to colors within figures; unfortunately the book is printed entirely in grayscale. You're able to download the full-color PDF version of the book, but its image quality is no better.

The printed-PDF format takes "padding" to a whole new level. Text coverage of each page probably averages below 25%. In other words, you're paying for an ENORMOUS amount of blank space. Entirely blank pages abound, and at a cost of roughly ten cents per page, that's inexcusable.

All of this would be annoying but tolerable if the content were worthwhile. Sorry, no such luck.

CONTENT:

Many superior books on XSD theory exist; I didn't expect -- or intend -- to learn Schemas from the ground up using this book. Instead, I HOPED that this book would provide what its description promised: instruction on how to use Altova's XML suite to create XML Schemas.

Instead I got a bewildering jumble of badly-ordered general Schema theory, list after list packed with undefined jargon, and visualizations that baffled rather than elucidated. For example, this is a DIRECT QUOTE from page 283: "In most cases the notation is simple enough that you can follow it, even with a minimal key (this image, actually, is as bad as it gets)."

At least they're honest.

There is almost NO COVERAGE of how Altova's tool suite can be applied to the complexities of XSD. Just one practical, cogent exercise per chapter would have softened my review considerably. Other than a few incomplete examples early on, including 76 pages (10% of the book) on DTDs, which aren't even the subject of the book, Altova hardly mentions its own tools or thier use.

I realize that this book encapsulates the materials that accompany one of their ridiculously pricey online training courses. Would this book make more sense with a teacher guiding the reader through it? I can't see how it would, but if that's the case, then this book should never be sold as a stand-alone product.

Conclusion: if you want to learn XML Schema, seek out any other book than this one. If you want to learn to use Altova's XML suite, hope that a much better writer and a much, MUCH better publisher decides that it's a profitable subject.

Unfortunately, you won't learn EITHER from this grossly overpriced rush job.