Learning XML

by Dale Farris, President, Golden Triangle PC Club
March 2001

This excellent new book on XML (Extensible Markup Language), while not for everyone, is indeed going to get a lot of attention from the many folks who are heavily involved in developing Web site content. Since its introduction in the late 90's, XML (Extensible Markup Language) has unleashed a torrent of new acronyms, standards, and rules that have left some in the Internet community wondering whether it is all really necessary.

As author Erik T. Ray says in this important book, "The truth is, XML isn't here to replace what's already on the Web, but to create a more solid and flexible foundation. It's an unprecedented effort by a consortium of organizations and companies to create an information framework for the 21st century that HTML only hinted at."

Well, what exactly is XML anyway? If you are asking yourself this question, then you probably are not going to find this book of much use. However, if you know the answer, then you are also likely to be already up to your eyeballs in using XML to help enhance the content of Web pages.

XML is a flexible way to create what is called "self-describing data," and to share both the format and the data on the Web, intranets, and elsewhere. For those involved with XML, or needing to get involved, finding books on this highly specialized subject has been made much simpler with the timely arrival of Ray's fine, but very technical book.

The arrival of support for XML in browsers and authoring tools has followed a long period of intense hype. Major databases, authoring tools (including Microsoft's Office 2000), and browsers are committed to supporting XML. Now, with Ray's work, you also have the answer to the question, "What can XML do for me?"

For anyone working with XML, this fine work will help you better understand the many times very complex language of XML, and how to use it to produce results your viewers expect. You can learn how to create XML documents with the appropriate structure and format, and learn the stylesheets that are needed to view documents coded with XML.

In the not-too-distant future, look for this Web coding language to begin to play a very important role behind the scenes, as Web developers continue to create more energetic and interesting Web pages. To help prepare for this inevitable future, Ray has assembled an important collection of highly valuable insights on learning what parts of XML are most helpful to get started creating Document Type Definitions, the basic concepts and core syntax of XML, creating links within and between documents using XML, and how to begin programming XML applications.

Content Features

Basic concepts and core syntax of XML
Introduction to programming XML
Document modeling with DTD's and XML schema
Creating links within and between documents with XLink and XPointer
Using stylesheets, including CSS and XSLT, for formatting documents
Introduction to internationalization using Unicode

Status of XML

As author Ray says, "XML is not a markup language; rather, it's a toolkit for creating, shaping, and using markup languages." The present HTML will be soon absorbed into XML, and will become a clearer version of itself, called XHTML. XML will also make it possible to create hundreds of new markup languages to cover every application and document type.

XML is an attempt to rein in the uncontrolled development of competing technologies and proprietary languages that threaten to splinter the Web. With XML, you have structured information that can nicely work with applications, maximizing accessibility without sacrificing richness of expression.

Book Purpose

"Learning XML" is intended to give readers a birds-eye view of the XML landscape now shaping up. Readers should have some familiarity with structured markup, such as HTML, and with Web concepts such as hypertext linking and data representation. While you don't necessarily have to be a Web developer to understand XML concepts, you will need to have a pretty solid understanding of coding Web pages and how to use the HTML markup language.

Ray leaves the intricacies of programming XML to other books, and instead focuses here on presenting a decent starting point from which to jump in any direction desired with XML.

Features of XML

Store and organize just about any kind of information in a tailored form
Open standard, not married to any particular software
Unicode is the standard character set
Supports a vast array of writing systems and symbols
Many ways to check a document
Clear, simple syntax and unambiguous structure
Easily combined with stylesheets

Future of XML

XML is now an official recommendation and is currently at Version 1.0, and managed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Interest in XML manifests in the number of satellite technologies that are rapidly growing, indicating that as a Web language, XML will quite likely continue to expand.

Table of Contents

The eight (8) chapters include the following.

Introduction
Markup and Core Concepts
Connecting Resources with Links
Presentation: Creating the End Product
Document Models: A Higher Level of Control
Transformation: Repurposing Documents
Internationalization
Programming for XML

Appendix A - Resources
Appendix B - A Taxonomy of Standards

About the Author

Erik T. Ray is an experienced XML developer with the O'Reilly & Associates publishing firm, where he has been helping the production department move to an XML-based workflow. He lives with his wife and his 5 parrots in Massachusetts. When not writing, he collects old books, plays strategy games, practices kendo, and follows events in space exploration. If your company is assertively moving into the Web era, Erik is also someone you are going to want to get to know real well, if you can manage to get him. Once the word gets out about this book, I suspect his XML consulting work load is going to rapidly expand.

Target Readers

Readers of this excellent introduction to the XML language will more likely be those already involved in creating content for their Web sites and customers. This presumes that folks working with XML do also have some prior experience with the many times tedious, mind-numbing work of setting up the hard coding that makes HTML pages so easy to use for so many viewers. I also suggest that colleges and universities supporting classes in Web authoring or Java, also consider this excellent work to aid in their expansion of learning for students eager to dive into XML.

O'Reilly Hits Another Homer

The O'Reilly publishing firm, famous for their emphasis on a common-sense approach to explaining very technical material, depth of detail, and focus on the practical, has released an invaluable tool for anyone interested in maximizing the potential of XML with their Web site development work. For those just starting out with XML, Ray provides an appropriate first-time learning book, that could be later built on with other titles that do delve more deeply in the intricacies of the tedious programming in XML that Ray wisely eschews in this title.

With this release, O'Reilly again proves its mettle as the pre-eminent publisher of technical works of superb quality and lasting value, and that meet the higher expectations of professionals searching for solid substance that directly translates their minimal investment in the book into soon to be realized profitable returns.

Book Contents

368 pages; preface; acknowledgments; figures; diagrams; appendixes; glossary; index; cover colophon

O'Reilly XML Resources

In keeping with their long standing tradition of being more than merely a publisher, the O'Reilly & Associates publishing firm also supports a Web site of interest to readers of Ray's book. Go to xml.oreilly.com for even more broader based information, news, and technical support about using XML in your company.

Also, check out www.xml.com for a fully developed site devoted to all things XML.

Author

Erik T. Ray

ISBN

January 2001, First Edition
0-596-00046-4

List Price

$34.95

Publisher

Contact: Lisa Mann
lisam@oreilly.com
1-707-829-0515, ext 230
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
101 Morris Street
Sebastopol, California 95472
1-800-998-9938
1-707-829-0515
FAX 1-707-829-0104
www.oreilly.com