XML - The Complete Reference

By Heather Williamson

Published by Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 2001
Paperback, 992 pages
ISBN: 0-07-212734-1

XML (or Extensible Mark-up Language) has long been touted as the new revolution for web development, but it has yet to achieve mainstream use by website developers. The advantage of XML is that it offers a universal format for structuring documents or data so that files may be generated and read in any location or platform.

This substantial guide to using and writing XML is aimed at web developers with little or no experience, plus those who are expanding their skills in this format and need an occasional reference to the code. The book is divided into 8 main sections, beginning with the basics of identifying XML elements and attributes and how it can be used.

Once some familiarity with the XML has been achieved, the book proceeds to cover DTDs (Document Type Definitions) to control formats and then looks at implementing style sheets. More advanced developers can then work through the sections on using schemas and more recent developments in XML such as Query, XLinks and more.

The final sections of the book review the use of XML in action and the number of 'child languages' that are also available. The substantial appendixes include look-up lists of code for formatting and other uses.

If you believe in the potential of XML as a new coding application and you can see the advantages for your web development, then this book is worth considering. There are certainly many available on the subject, however this one is well-written and clearly explains the concepts and uses of XML. It's as 'complete' as any book can be and is undoubtedly an excellent reference source on this subject.