Effective XML

Series: Addison-Wesley Effective Software Development Series

Learning the fundamentals of XML might take a student a week. Learning how to use XML effectively might take a lifetime. In keeping with the tradition of Scott Meyer's books on C++, Elliotte Rusty Harold discusses 50 rules that will help students improve their XML programs.

This book is not a tutorial. It is not going to teach your students what a tag is or how to write a DTD (Document Type Definition). Instead it's going to tell them when, why, where, and how to use such XML tools effectively (and equally important when not to use them).

Since XML has become a fundamental underpinning of new software systems, it becomes important to ask new questions, not just what XML is, but how does one use it effectively? Which techniques work and which don't? Perhaps most importantly, which techniques appear to work at first but fail to scale as systems are further developed? This book answers these questions. It is not enough for students to learn to write programs that compile and produce the expected results. It is important for them to write code that is extensible, legible, and maintainable because XML can be used to produce robust, extensible, maintainable systems.