Java & XML

The author has done a great job. This book covers a wide range of XML topics with a very consise writing style. Also, it is a nice balance that the author spends more pages on XML parsing than other topics, since parsing is indeed by far the most useful technology.However, the book could have been more careful about I18N, especially in the sample codes. As XML is no doubt a hot topic globally, numerous XML documents are processed every day. Although Java is based on Unicode, software almost always need to be retrofitted when expanding into the global market. Therefore, instead of new FileInputStream(new File(xmlURI)), or new FileWriter(file), it is much better, in a sense of education, to write codes like new FileInputStream(new File(xmlURI), "UTF-8") and new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(file), "UTF-8"). The reason is that a program relying on default encoding behaves differently on different platforms. Changing your habit right from the beginning saves a lot of your time when you begin to globalize your software later.I think the author does mention this issue somewhere in the book (in a foot note I guess), but it is the sample codes that really influence the readers.To be fair, life could have been easier had the API designer insisted that an encoding parameter is mandatory.One more comment: It will be nice if the author discusses XPath API in the book. For simple applications, the XPath API is far more easier to use than parsing APIs.

The buzz is all around. XML and all derivatives are attracting everyone. There are many XML books in the market but few are satisfactory. I like the books which can offer more than tutorials on the web. This is one of those. First of all, the book is well organized and easy to follow. Learn the idea behind SAX, DOM and then JDOM. Having a good understanding of these basics, go on with three main application areas of XML:"web publishing","interoperatibility", and "data binding". This is what XML developers should do, and author follows this order very well. In fact, I remember Brett's one article where he suggested developers not to forget basics of parsing while working with higher level APIs and protocols.If we look at the details of book... After covering the basics of parsing, Brett introduces some -very good- real world examples: Cocoon(for publishing frameworks), soap, xml-rpc, and web services for communication or interoperatibility and Castor etc. for data binding. What is missing or not intended in this book is XML data structure design and XSLT. This is understandable since both are very detailed topics that wouldn't fit in a single book. For XSLT there are the O'reilly Java & XSLT or Wrox XSLT books and for XML-Schema... I'm just waiting for a good one.Especially for those intermediate level XML programmers with Java knowledge.

This is easily one of the top five computer books I've ever read. The writing is clear and concise and the book covers a LOT of ground without being overwhelming. The world of XML is known for generating an important new standard almost every week, and keeping up with it all (or even figuring out how much of it is worth keeping up with) is quite a chore. McLaughlin concentrates on SAX and DOM, two competing standard APIs for writing programs to use and manipulate XML data. The fact that these APIs are not language-specific means that this book is useful for anyone who programs for XML, not just Java folks. Personally, I do more or my XML-related work in Perl and found this book very useful anyway (no XML/Perl book exists so far). It's also worth noting that while the author insists that this is a book for "Java developers," I found all of the examples quite understandable even though I'm rather new to Java. To sum up, if you are a programmer of any sort and you either use XML now or are thinking about starting to use it, I think you can really benefit from this book.

I've read several books on XML that have been mainly a regurgitation of the specifications without much attempt to help a developer understand how the technology can actually be used. This is the first book I have read on this subject that actually bridges this gap and gives useful, working examples of how XML can be used in your Java applications to solve real-world problems. Instead of giving a code snippet that shows only how to call the XML parsing/processing APIs, the book gives full examples on how to use XML in applications from servlets for presentation to B2B applications for data collaboration between companies.The book was well written and easy to follow. The author doesn't waste time reiterating the same things over and over. Links for more information on each subject are given in the text.If you are looking to implement an XML solution in Java, this book will be a great help along the way.

If Java and XML is considered the perfect marriage, then this book is the practical guide to life after the honeymoon and beyond. A well written book for any Java developer who wants to get a good working knowledge of using XML in Java projects, it contains good tutorials on the basics such as SAX, DOM, DTD, XSL etc and a good tutorial and intro to JDOM, a new alternative to SAX and DOM. In addition, there are good discussions with working examples of real world applications such as XML-RPC, B2B etc. Covers some of the most recent developments in XML including SAX 2.0, DOM Level 2 and XML Schema. Lots of practical examples and advices from someone who's been there and done that. Fun to read and candid in nature.