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Author/s : Michael C. Daconta, Al Saganich
Publisher : Sams
Category : Java Other
Review by : Ajith Kallambella
Rating : 7 horseshoes</pre>
The first five chapters breeze through general XML technology concepts such as parsers, DOM API and XSL/XSLT. Since this is not a book about XML itself,
you should not be surprised about the pace. The remaining five chapters talk about the actual mission ie., integrating XML with
Java applications. Sections on using XML for bean and
EJB persistence, writing
Servlets that render XML-based information and XML/JDBC collaboration are noteworthy. The authors go that extra mile and talk about idiosyncrasies of vendor support for XML, especially the subtle differences you have to get used to while using XML parsers from Sun, IBM and Oracle.
On the flip side, many crucial topics have been left out and these omissions are starkly visible. There is no mention of concepts such as JDOM, XML RPC, XMLSchema (this disappointed me), XML-based publishing frameworks etc. Lack of emphasis to detail has compromised the quality of the book. The code samples are lengthy and some programs on CD do not even compile clean. Several programs are missing from the CD. I searched on the Sam’s web site to see if there is an errata page and again, I was disappointed. Last but not least, there are over a dozen typos which makes you think - did they hurry into publishing this book?
You cannot use this book as a workable reference. I would love to see a second edition that has more comprehensive coverage and better quality.
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