Java & XML, 2nd Edition: Solutions to Real-World Problems by Brett McLaughlin

Product Description

While the XML "buzz" still dominates talk among Internet developers, the critical need is for information that cuts through the hype and lets Java programmers put XML to work. Java & XML shows how to use the APIs, tools, and tricks of XML to build real-world applications, with the end result that both the data and the code are portable. This second edition of Java & XML adds chapters on Advanced SAX and Advanced DOM, new chapters on SOAP and data binding, and new examples throughout. A concise chapter on XML basics introduces concepts, and the rest of the book focuses on using XML from your Java applications. Java developers who need to work with XML, or think that they will in the future--as well as developers involved in the new peer-to-peer movement, messaging, or web services--will find the new Java & XML a constant companion. This book covers:
The basics of XML, including DTDs, namespaces, XML Schema, XPath, and XSL
The SAX API, including all handlers, the SAX 2 extensions, filters, and writers
The DOM API, including DOM Level 2, Level 3, and the Traversal, Range, CSS, Events, and HTML modules.
The JDOM API, including the core, a look at XPath support, and JDOM as a JSR
Using web publishing frameworks like Apache Cocoon
Developing applications with XML-RPC
Using SOAP and UDDI for web services
Data Binding, using both DTDs and XML Schema for constraints
Building business-to-business applications with XML
Building information channels with RSS and dynamic content with XSP
Includes a quick reference on SAX 2.0, DOM Level 2, and JDOM.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #508925 in Books
Published on: 2001-09
Format: Illustrated
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
550 pages
Editorial Reviews

Book Info
New second edition focuses entirely on using XML from Java applications. New chapters on Advanced SAX, Advanced DOM, SOAP and data binding, and new examples throughout. Softcover.

About the Author
Brett McLaughlin has been working in computers since the Logo days. (Remember the little triangle?) He currently specializes in building application infrastructure using Java and Java-related technologies. He has spent the last several years implementing these infrastructures at Nextel Communications and Allegiance Telecom, Inc. Brett is one of the co-founders of the Java Apache project Turbine, which builds a reusable component architecture for web application development using Java servlets. He is also a contributor of the EJBoss project, an open source EJB application server, and Cocoon, an open source XML web-publishing engine. He is author of the soon-to-be-released O'Reilly book, Building Java Enterprise Applications.
Customer Reviews

A book worth owning
The author covers some background, but mainly sticks to the business end of dealing with XML using java. The book is set out so you can read the parts that are relevant to getting a particular piece of technology working quickly.

Before reading this book I had never written an XML parser, but within a couple of days I was able to rework a parser to make it work both faster and with a smaller memory footprint by following the guidelines in this book. The details are not covered in great depth, but enough to get a job done, and make this a portabe reference.

Another book worth owning from the O'Reilly press.

Good but could be more.
Second editions are always great. However, I find that I dont like all of the API reference in the book. I would rather look at APIs electronically and talk concepts in the book.

Good introduction, a little diffuse
Compared with .NET and XML this book tends to wander and rat hole a little. The book covers the basics. The SAX and DOM approaches. It also covers XSLT and serving XML. It also covers advanced topics like Castor, JDOM, and web services. But most of the subjects are covered at a cursory level and do not serve as a complete introduction.

There is a small reference at the end of the book which is not as easy to read as the APIs described in the Nutshell style.

I gave this book four stars because, while it does lack focus, it is a good introduction to the XML APIs for Java. In the third release they should concentrate a little harder editing in some focus and a better reference section at the end.