XML - most books pre 2005, which ones to buy ?

[David Payne]

I saw some books on XML from amazon. All are pre 2005/7 books. There is only one which will be released in around september 2012 and I cant wait for that one. Would books that old be outdated ? One example is learning xml by o'reilly. Can I use those old books to learn XML for today's applications ?

[Bear Bibeault]

XML hasn't changed all that much so I think you'd be fine.

In fact, XML has lost a lot of its luster. XHTML is dead, JSPX was dead on arrival, and JSON is rapidly replacing it as the transport format of choice in modern web apps and web services.

It's still an important technology -- it's just not being applied absolutely everywhere (usually inappropriately) like it was just a few years ago.

[David Payne]

Bear Bibeault wrote:XML hasn't changed all that much so I think you'd be fine.

In fact, XML has lost a lot of its luster. XHTML is dead, JSPX was dead on arrival, and JSON is rapidly replacing it as the transport format of choice in modern web apps and web services.

It's still an important technology -- it's just not being applied absolutely everywhere (usually inappropriately) like it was just a few years ago.

So, can i learn JSON instead of XML ? Or do i learn both to have better knowledge ?
Is it possible to use json instead of xml in deployment descriptors for jsp, servlet based webapps ? my book still uses xml.

[Bear Bibeault]

David Payne wrote:Or do i learn both to have better knowledge ?

Both. As I said, XML is still an important technology.

Is it possible to use json instead of xml in deployment descriptors for jsp, servlet based webapps ?

No. I never said that JSON was being used in place of XML for configuration.