Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 960 pages
- Published by: Wrox
- Edition: 3rd Edition August 20, 2004
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0764569090
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0764569098
-
Book Dimensions:
9.2 x 7.3 x 2 inches
- Weighs: 3.1 pounds
Product Description
What is this book about? XSLT 2.0 Programmer's Reference, 3rd Edition, is the authoritative reference guide to the language. Without using the formal and inaccessible language of the W3C specifications, it tells you exactly what every construct in the language does, and how it is intended to be used. This book is a reference rather than a tutorial; it is designed for the professional programmer who is using the language every day. It is the book that people quote when they claim that a particular product is giving the wrong answer, and the book that implementers of the language turn to when they want clarification of the specifications.
At the same time, the book is readable. Reviews of the previous editions of the
XSLT Programmer’s Reference, which this book grew from, show that readers appreciate the background material on the design thinking behind the language, the essay on functional programming, the occasional dry wit, the gentle criticism of the language specification when appropriate, and the fact that the examples stray into a diverse range of interesting application areas.
Download Description
What is this book about? XSLT 2.0Programmer's Reference, 3rd Edition,is the authoritative reference guide to the language. Without using the formal and inaccessible language of the W3C specifications, it tellsyou exactly what every construct in the language does, and how it is intended to be used. This book is a reference rather than a tutorial; it is designed for the professional programmer who is using the language every day. It is the book that people quote when they claim that a particular product is giving the wrong answer, and the book that implementers of the language turn to when they want clarification of the specifications. At the same time, the bookis readable. Reviews of the previous editions of the XSLT Programmers Reference, whichthis bookgrew from, show that readers appreciate the background material on the design thinking behind the language, the essay on functional programming, the occasional dry wit, the gentle criticism of the language specification when appropriate, and the fact that the examples stray into a diverse range of interesting application areas.
Reader ReviewsIt is difficult to give a numeric rating to this book because it depends on what kind of reader you are: - If you have done little or no XSLT, and you want a book to efficiently explain how to start doing XSLT this is a TERRIBLE choice. - If you are a beginner who wants to know every tiny detail of XSLT and has plenty of time to learn it, then this is a good choice. - If you've already read an XSLT book, you are already comfortable with XSLT, and now you want to learn all the extra details the other authors thought wasn't important enough to include, then this is a GREAT choice. This book almost reads like a specifiation. Although to be fair, I've read some specifications, like the EJB specification, that are more focused than this book. Any good trainer or training author knows that you have to organize your material to first put the emphasis on the central introductory concepts. Once your audience understands the basics, then you can build upon that foundation to explain the advanced topics. Along the way, you should always put the main focus on the most important topics, and just briefly mention extraneous details. Unfortunatley, this book does not organize the material for learning and covers everything with approximately the same emphasis. As just one example of this, Chapter 1 spends eight LONG pages on the history of XSLT including details like when so-and-so joined the specification team or presented a paper at a conference. What Chapter 1 does not do is give you any idea of how to write an XSLT sheet. I plodded my way through the first two chapters wondering when we'd get past all the gory details to a description of how to write an introductory XSLT sheet. Finally, I had enough and looked through the book trying to find how far I should jump ahead to find the introductory section, and realized it didn't exist. All the basics are interspersed with endless details throughout the book. To be fair, the book calls itself a "programmer's reference." So one could argue that it shouldn't be designed to learn XSLT. However, trying to use this book as a reference would be equally probelmatic because its too hard to find the important information among all the extraneous details. So if you already know XSLT well and want to know all the extra details, I truly do highly recommend this book. But if you want to learn XSLT in a resonable amount of time, I strongly recommend against this book.
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