XSLT
Programmer's Reference
ISBN:
1-861003-12-9
Author: Michael
Kay is a software designer and systems architect
with ICL, the IT services provider. Kay
divides his time between external activities and
projects for clients. In the XML world, he is
known as the developer of the open source Saxon
product, the first fully-conformant implementation
of the XSLT standard.
Pages:
777 + Web site content
Intended
Audience:
XSLT,
Programmer's Reference is intended to serve
the programmer community. Like all Wrox
Press books, this title is written by a programmer
for programmers. As such, this is clearly
not a beginner text. One is expected to have
some technical background before using the
text. The author assumes the
reader already understands XML, has
programmed in a variety of other languages, and
has a working knowledge of HTML and the
Web. Let me stress that this is a book for
experienced programmers. According to Kay,
"If all the programming you've done is to
write HTML pages with a little bit of Javascript,
you might find some of the material tough
going."
Although the text may be read cover to
cover, it is most likely to be used as a reference
and a resource.
Summary:
This
is a book about XSLT, as a language. It does
not assume to provide information about the use of
any particular product.
The book does not attempt to cover the early
dialect of XSL that Microsoft delivered with
Internet Explorer 5.0 because the author believes
this to be confusing and because Microsoft has publicly
committed to move their technology to be W3C
compliant.
The
book is divided into three parts. Chapters
1-3 make up the first part of the book. This
part provides an explanation of the concepts of
XSLT, including the role of XSLT, the concept of
transformation, the processing model and the
basics of the internal structure of an XSLT style
sheet. This part could stand alone and could
be considered to provide an introduction
(technical) to XSLT.
The
second part of the book, made up of Chapters 4-7,
serves as a reference about the structure of the
XSLT language. Every language feature is covered
in these chapters with detailed explanations about
the syntax rules. Usage advice and examples
are given in this part of the book. Included
are the elements of XSLT, XPath expressions that
can be used within XSLT, pattern syntax and the
standard function library. Chapters are
arranged alphabetically to help the reader quickly
find information.
The
last part of the book is made up of Chapter
8-10. This part of the book is designed so
the reader can see how XSLT can be used to develop
applications. This portion of the book
provides readers with designs and working code
examples with explanations about how the user can
adapt the code for their own use. Chapter 10
provides a survey of XSLT products so the user can
decide which meets the requirements of their
particular project.
The
book also contains two appendices and three
indexes, all included to help the programmer find
just what they need quickly and easily. Appendix A is devoted to
Microsoft's latest MSXML3 product because it
currently implements most of the XSLT standard.
Final
Note: Wrox books are designer to be
"Programmer to Programmer." Their
goal is to make programmers successful by enabling
them to share their expertise with one
another. In addition to the book, Wrox
provides all source code and support for the book
on their web site at http://www.wrox.com.
Part of the Wrox experience is the community of
developers that forms around the web site.
This enables the book to survive beyond its red
covers and to provide lasting value to the
programmer and to the programming community.
I
highly recommend this reference for those
undertaking serious XSLT programming. I
don't believe there is a more comprehensive
reference available and certainly the wealth of
examples helps programmers to immediately grasp
the language and its use.
Dianne
Kennedy
Editor,
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