| The most usable book I read in ages | Rating:  |
| A lot of IT people are busy making different applications running on different platforms "talk" to each other. XML was invented as the "Esperanto" of the IT world to get these systems to understand each other. In practice however it just isn't that simple, as most of these applications don't talk XML yet, until this book. This book is a real do itbook. It does not teach you XML or XSLT but shows you how to use it. What I especially liked is that he discusses his design considerations, he wants you to understand the whys. Once he thinks you know the basics he goes back to his basic design and improves it to make it make it fully reusable and modular, making it even beter. Mr. Rawlins gives you toolbox of utilities, with the source code, that can become the building blocks for your own application integration system. I have not come across a book with as much usable code in my IT career. We have already redesigned quite a few of our systems because of it. If you are into connectivityyou cant be without this book. Ps. The word Legacy in the title does not imply big mainframes. |
| Total Votes: 3, Helpful Votes: 3, Date: 2004-01-22 |
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| Unpretentious and Useful | Rating: |
| Easy to read, in a refreshing unpretentious style, Rawlins explains numerous complicated concepts associated with using XML. Especially useful are the chapters covering the conversion of EDI formatted data into and out of XML and the converting of one XML format to another XML format. The inclusion of Java and C++ considerations in appropriate chapters provides excellent practical advice. |
| Total Votes: 3, Helpful Votes: 3, Date: 2003-12-15 |
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| Step-by-step, covers the details well | Rating: |
| Mike Rawlin's book deals with the reality that legacy business applications are not readily converted to processing XML-formatted information. While XML works fine as the interchange format, you need to convert between that interchange format and the format your applications understand. Mike covers all of the minor nuances that you need to consider, presents a wealth of knowledge in an easily-understood format, and provides examples to boot. |
| Total Votes: 2, Helpful Votes: 2, Date: 2003-12-10 |
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| From the trenches | Rating: |
| Rawlings does a first-rate job of conveying elegant solutions to very arduous problems. If you find yourself in the trenches trying to bridge the technology gap between modern tools and older EDI or flat file based systems - this is your book. Those without the budget for a commercial product will especially appreciate do-it-yourself practical code and easy to follow examples. |
| Total Votes: 1, Helpful Votes: 1, Date: 2003-12-09 |
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| Using XML with Legacy Business Applications | Rating: |
| This book provides practical advice and examples on integrating XML into existing business systems. The book is easy to read and follow. The approach of the book is to break the problem down into a chain of simple problems, addressing each as a data 'filter'. The end result is to connect the input/output of a legacy system with the input/output of an XML parser. I recommend this book to anyone faced with the problem of using XML to extend the reach of existing applications. |
| Total Votes: 1, Helpful Votes: 1, Date: 2003-12-03 |
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| The most usable book I read in ages | Rating: |
| A lot of IT people are busy making different applications running on different platforms "talk" to each other. XML was invented as the "Esperanto" of the IT world to get these systems to understand each other. In practice however it just isn't that simple, as most of these applications don't talk XML yet, until this book. This book is a real do itbook. It does not teach you XML or XSLT but shows you how to use it. What I especially liked is that he discusses his design considerations, he wants you to understand the whys. Once he thinks you know the basics he goes back to his basic design and improves it to make it make it fully reusable and modular, making it even beter. Mr. Rawlins gives you toolbox of utilities, with the source code, that can become the building blocks for your own application integration system. I have not come across a book with as much usable code in my IT career. We have already redesigned quite a few of our systems because of it. If you are into connectivityyou cant be without this book. Ps. The word Legacy in the title does not imply big mainframes. |
| Total Votes: 3, Helpful Votes: 3, Date: 2004-01-22 |
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| Unpretentious and Useful | Rating: |
| Easy to read, in a refreshing unpretentious style, Rawlins explains numerous complicated concepts associated with using XML. Especially useful are the chapters covering the conversion of EDI formatted data into and out of XML and the converting of one XML format to another XML format. The inclusion of Java and C++ considerations in appropriate chapters provides excellent practical advice. |
| Total Votes: 3, Helpful Votes: 3, Date: 2003-12-15 |
| |
| Step-by-step, covers the details well | Rating: |
| Mike Rawlin's book deals with the reality that legacy business applications are not readily converted to processing XML-formatted information. While XML works fine as the interchange format, you need to convert between that interchange format and the format your applications understand. Mike covers all of the minor nuances that you need to consider, presents a wealth of knowledge in an easily-understood format, and provides examples to boot. |
| Total Votes: 2, Helpful Votes: 2, Date: 2003-12-10 |
| |
| From the trenches | Rating: |
| Rawlings does a first-rate job of conveying elegant solutions to very arduous problems. If you find yourself in the trenches trying to bridge the technology gap between modern tools and older EDI or flat file based systems - this is your book. Those without the budget for a commercial product will especially appreciate do-it-yourself practical code and easy to follow examples. |
| Total Votes: 1, Helpful Votes: 1, Date: 2003-12-09 |
| |
| Using XML with Legacy Business Applications | Rating: |
| This book provides practical advice and examples on integrating XML into existing business systems. The book is easy to read and follow. The approach of the book is to break the problem down into a chain of simple problems, addressing each as a data 'filter'. The end result is to connect the input/output of a legacy system with the input/output of an XML parser. I recommend this book to anyone faced with the problem of using XML to extend the reach of existing applications. |
| Total Votes: 1, Helpful Votes: 1, Date: 2003-12-03 |
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