`Java and XML, 3rd Edition,` shows you how to cut through all the hype about XML and put it to work. It teaches you how to use the APIs, tools, and tricks of XML to build real-world applications. The result is a new approach to managing information that touches everything from configuration files to web sites.
After two chapters on XML basics, including XPath, XSL, DTDs, and XML Schema, the rest of the book focuses on using XML from your Java applications. This third edition of `Java and XML` covers all major Java XML processing libraries, including full coverage of the SAX, DOM, StAX, JDOM, and dom4j APIs as well as the latest version of the Java API for XML Processing (JAXP) and Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB). The chapters on web technology have been entirely rewritten to focus on the today's most relevant topics: syndicating content with RSS and creating Web 2.0 applications. You'll learn how to create, read, and modify RSS feeds for syndicated content and use XML to power the next generation of websites with Ajax and Adobe Flash.
Topics include: The basics of XML, including DTDs, namespaces, XML Schema, XPath, and Transformations The SAX API, including all handlers, filters, and writers The DOM API, including DOM Level 2, Level 3, and the DOM HTML module The JDOM API, including the core and a look at XPath support The StAX API, including StAX factories, producing documents and XMLPull Data Binding with JAXB, using the new JAXB 2.0 annotations Web syndication and podcasting with RSS XML on the Presentation Layer, paying attention to Ajax and Flash applications
If you are developing with Java and need to use XML, or think that you will be in the future; if you'reinvolved in the new peer-to-peer movement, messaging, or web services; or if you're developing software for electronic commerce, Java and XML will be an indispensable companion.
User review
OK, and better than the rest
While I have never much liked this book, I have found this better than the others I have and the book I turn to most.
I didn't know much about XML when I started, but I am now proficient at using the StAX parser thanks to this book. So there is some proof in the pudding there. The explanations and examples were sufficient, although not particularly expansive. The book provided me with enough knowledge to know which parser I needed to use, and I also a liked this book's coverage of JAXB.
I have Processing XML with Java(TM): A Guide to SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, and TrAX, which doesn't cover Stax or JAXB (perhaps for good reason?) so I found it useless. Further I have Pro XML Development with Java Technology where I found the examples too encompassing, that is it requires you to become intimately involved with each example in order to follow it.
So compared to the other two books, Java & XML was the easiest book to use for learning, and the one that I would recommend for using Java and XML.
User review
Best book on working directly with XML in Java
This is probably the best book currently out about working directly with XML and Java. It seems to be the most up to date with respect to coverage of the most commonly used Java XML APIs. The book gives a good overview of SAX, StAX, DOM, JDOM, dom4j, and JAXB. In reading the book, I got a good sense of the ideas behind the different API's. I also got a good sense of and when and how to use them. After looking through many other Java-XML books, this one is my first choice. The book still functions well for me as a reference when I have an XML processing task that I need to do in Java.
User review
Good for early XML w/ Java info
I'm not using the technology in this book right now, and just wanted an overview of Java and XML together. I never expected this book to be super-in-depth, if it was covering this broad space in a book that isn't huge.
The good points: I found the book fairly easy to read for at least the first third of the book. The rest seemed a bit dry, but I think that is largely because I was getting out of my depth. Once I'd worked with the early material some, I think the later material would have been more readable.
I got the information I was looking for, which was an overview of XML and how it connects to other tools in real life. The book also had lots of ideas for further reading. Handy.
The bad points: The author seems to have a blatant open-source bias. While that isn't shocking in a Java book, it does come across as a bit unprofessional, is somewhat little minded, and is distracting from the key subject matter.
Also, while this was a good overview, I was left feeling that more could have been said about XML, Java, web services, and working with client-server architectures. Another reviewer mentioned that these chapters were dropped from a previous edition. I will probably be looking for that previous edition to see if I like it better.
Of several XML books I've looked through, this is the only one so far I would consider buying. However, I will also be considering getting a more in-depth book for my bookshelf after checking this one out of the library for an introduction to the subject.
User review
Poor packing resulted in damage
Although the seller's description of the book as being in good shape was surely truthful, their use of an envelope, rather than a more rigid shipping container resulted in the softcover book sustaining cosmetic damage during shipping.
User review
Un approccio pratico a JAVA+XML
Ho trovato questo libro molto interessante.
Copre le varie API disponibili per JAVA per gestire file XML: SAX, DOM, JAXP, StAX, JDOM, dom4j. Inoltre vengono trattati anche alcuni argomenti avanzati, utili per apprendere al meglio l'uso di queste API.
Il libro e' colmo di codice ed e' proprio il codice ad essere utilizzato come strumento didattico. Codice e diagrammi UML riempiono tutte le pagine.
E' un libro molto pratico, rivolto ai programmatori. E' necessario avere una piccola infarinatura riguardo l'XML: viene trattato brevemente nei primi capitoli.
E' consigliato a chi ama libri con un approccio pragmatico.
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