From Book News, Inc.
Employing a standards-based unified vocabulary, this handbook describes major trends, applications, and product categories, and how they relate to one another and to XML technology. The whopping 69 chapters cover such areas as content management, portals, publishing, databases, and web services. The fourth edition adds chapters on schemas, datatypes, and XSL. The CD-ROMs contain 175 free software packages.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Back Cover Copy
The proven XML resource: applications, products, technologies, and tutorials! Revised and enlarged-latest standards and trends: schemas, datatypes, XSL, voice, wireless Two CD-ROMs: 175 genuinely free software packages, including the IBM alphaWorks suite Web services: SOAP, WSDL, UDDIFREE Trial Version TurboXML IDE & Schema EditorFREE NeoCore XMS Native XML Database—Personal Edition100,000 copies in printADOBE FrameMaker + SGML-FREE TRYOUTThe proven resource for the Semantic Web and Web Services—100,000 copies in six languages!Developers, managers, consultants, and VCs rely on its technical accuracy, accessible writing style, and broad and deep coverage.Learn XMLStart by learning what XML is, why it came to be, how it differs from HTML, and the handful of vital concepts that you must understand to apply XML quickly and successfully—in your business and in your code.Use XMLExperience XML through illustrated discussions of tools and applications: Web services, B2B, B2C, EDI, exchanges, e-commerce, integration, portals, content management, databases, conversion, syndication, telephony, wireless, customization, publication, presentation.Master XMLMaster the details from friendly, in-depth presentations: XML, schemas, DTDs, datatypes, XSLT, XSL-FO, XLink, XPath, XPointer, XSDL, namespaces, topic maps, RDF, SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, VoiceXML."This book is an excellent starting point where you can learn and experiment with XML. As the inventor of SGML, Dr. Charles F. Goldfarb is one of the most respected authorities on structured information." —From the Foreword by Jean Paoli, Microsoft XML architect and co-editor of the W3C XML specification2 CD-ROMs: 175 no-time-limit FREE packages


About the Author
CHARLES F. GOLDFARB is the father of XML technology. He invented SGML, the Standard Generalized Markup Language on which both XML and HTML are based. You can find him on the Web at xmlbooksPAUL PRESCOD is a leading XML software developer, trainer, and consultant. He was a member of the W3C group that developed XML.With participation by industry leaders, including top experts from our sponsor companies.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
XML has sprawled into the most technical aspects of programming and infrastructure, and into the most business-focused areas of supply chain and customer relationship management. XML can be found in publishing houses seeking to manage colossal amounts of content; in advanced automated speech systems; in science, in banking, in intranets, web databases, graphics, multimedia... it's just plain everywhere.

An awful lot of people need to understand XML, and they need to understand it at many different levels, technical and non-technical. In XML Handbook, Fourth Edition, Charles F. Goldfarb seeks to do the impossible: write a book for all those people, without compromising accuracy. Perhaps he's the only guy on earth who could get away with something that audacious. After all, the guy did invent SGML, the markup language that gave birth to both HTML and XML. And, son of a gun, he's largely succeeded.

Goldfarb starts with the "who, what, and why" of XML: a complete briefing on what XML is and isn't, the problems it's intended to solve, who's using it, and how it fits into next-generation e-business (including a bird-level introduction to new technologies such as ebXML and Open Financial Exchange (OFX).

He makes a handy distinction between "POP" ("people-oriented publishing" and "MOM" (machine-oriented messaging) applications, demonstrating how XML can be used in both content management and programming. The highlight of this introductory section: an "XML Jargon Demystifier" which gets you comfortable with the alien terminology associated with XML (structured vs. unstructured information, document types and instances, schema, metadata, metalanguage, and so forth).

Part II focuses on XML's role in the middle tier of today's information systems. Here, Goldfarb walks through several common middle-tier applications, including XML-based personalized frequent-flyer sites and online auction applications, as well as a chapter-length case study from Wells Fargo, one of the world's leading financial institutions. In this section, Goldfarb also drills down to a more technical view of the anatomy of an XML-based information server, and shows how XML can support the bi-directional information flow that is key to many enterprise applications.

This book is filled to the gill with case studies and sample applications. On the "horizontal" side, Goldfarb shows XML at work in e-commerce -- both as a replacement and as a complement to traditional EDI systems. He introduces e-commerce supply webs, and shows how XML can support Internet-based sales lead tracking -- applications that work in virtually any industry. He also introduces industry-specific applications such as the petrochemical industry's XML-based "information pipeline"; and the RxML standard for secure online transmission of prescriptions to pharmacies.

XML Handbook's extensive tutorial section has been updated to reflect the latest XML standards and technologies, including namespaces, XSL, XPath, XPointer, XLink, and XML Schema structures and datatypes -- without abandoning the tutorials that have helped over 85,000 previous readers master DTDs, entities, and other first-generation XML features and techniques.

Whatever you want to build with XML, chances are Goldfarb covers it here. On the "POP" side, there are detailed sections -- not just chapters -- on XML-based portals, syndication applications, and publishing systems (including case studies from PC World Online and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace).

There's extensive coverage of content management and acquisition, including strategies for developing reusable content, planning for document conversion, implementing an XML mass-conversion facility, and integrating legacy data. Goldfarb also shows you how to get started with XML style sheets, and then use them to automate the delivery of large amounts of consistently formatted web content.

On the "MOM" side, you'll find a full section on XML infrastructure, including updated coverage of Java's XML support.

For years, the XML Handbook CD-ROM has been the fastest, easiest way to grab hold of the world's best XML software -- freeware, shareware, and demos alike. Now, Goldfarb's assembled two CD-ROMs, containing over 175 packages, including software from Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Adobe, and many smaller companies with their own great tools.

So: Has he missed anything? If so, it sure couldn't be much. (Bill Camarda)

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. He served for nearly ten years as vice president of a New Jersey–based marketing company, where he supervised a wide range of graphics and web design projects. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The proven XML resource: applications, products, technologies, and tutorials!Revised and enlarged-latest standards and trends: schemas, datatypes, XSL, voice, wirelessTwo CD-ROMs: 175 genuinely free software packages, including the IBM alphaWorks suiteWeb services: SOAP, WSDL, UDDI

FREE Trial Version TurboXML IDE & Schema Editor

FREE NeoCore XMS Native XML Database—Personal Edition

100,000 copies in print

ADOBE FrameMaker + SGML-FREE TRYOUT

The proven resource for the Semantic Web and Web Services—100,000 copies in six languages!

Developers, managers, consultants, and VCs rely on its technical accuracy, accessible writing style, and broad and deep coverage.Learn XML

Start by learning what XML is, why it came to be, how it differs from HTML, and the handful of vital concepts that you must understand to apply XML quickly and successfully—in your business and in your code.Use XML

Experience XML through illustrated discussions of tools and applications: Web services, B2B, B2C, EDI, exchanges, e-commerce, integration, portals, content management, databases, conversion, syndication, telephony, wireless, customization, publication, presentation.Master XML

Master the details from friendly, in-depth presentations: XML, schemas, DTDs, datatypes, XSLT, XSL-FO, XLink, XPath, XPointer, XSDL, namespaces, topic maps, RDF, SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, VoiceXML.

SYNOPSIS

The definitive resource for the Brave New Web of smart structured data and electronic commerce. Start by understanding what XML is, how it came to be, how it differs from HTML, and the handful of vital concepts that you must understand to apply XML quickly and successfully. Experience what it's like to use XML through illustrated walk-throughs of applications and XML tools -- including hot new Web servers for e-commerce, portals, content management, conversion, syndication, and presentation. Master the details of the XML language and related technologies from reader-friendly, in-depth presentations on XML, XSL, XSLT, XLink, XPath, schemas, namespaces, topic maps, and extended linking.

AUTHOR DESCRIPTION

Charles F. Goldfarb is the father of XML technology. He invented SGML, the Standard Generalized Markup Language on which both XML and HTML are based. You can find him on the Web at www.xmlbooks.com.

Paul Prescod is a leading XML software developer, trainer, and consultant. He was a member of the W3C group that developed XML.

With participation by industry leaders, including top experts from our sponsor companies.

ACCREDITATION

CHARLES F. GOLDFARB is the father of XML technology. He invented SGML, the Standard Generalized Markup Language on which both XML and HTML are based. You can find him on the Web at xmlbooks.com

PAUL PRESCOD is a leading XML software developer, trainer, and consultant. He was a member of the W3C group that developed XML.