Covers the basics of XSLT and provides instruction for techniques in document manipulation. Guide makes it easier to find solutions to most development problems. Included are a glossary and ai reference for XSLT syntax. Softcover.
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Average Rating: 4.5
Number of
Reviews: 12
Quickly, goodly and nicely
Rating:
I've just sent several months working my way through Bob Ducharme's Xslt Quickly, referred to here as XQ. It took me a little while as I can be a little dense. So can Xslt. This book, however, does a very good job of explaining fairly carefully, with real world examples, the basics of Xslt.
While my background is in programming, however i work as a tech writer, Xslt programming was different from what i had seen in the past, and to be honest, i had my doubts about this language and its use with xml at all.
It took me a couple of times to get my mind around xslt but suffice it to say that now i am hooked. XQ presents introductory material as well as features of the language/programming in good sized chunks. The sections are designed so that the reader can skip around if they want to, as well as a straight read. I had purchased an e-book version of the book when i thought i could no longer find my hard copy. (I of course found the hard copy version shortly thereafter.) This worked out well, as i felt much better making notes in the printed out version of the e-book. This is a good option to have. I feel that XQ has whetted my appetite to learn more about XSLT, while giving me a good foundation on which to work from. I think XQ can teach you some, simple, yet very powerful idioms within Xslt that you can use immediately. The writing is not dense or boring, yet it is pretty comprehensive. I would certainly recommend this!
Russ Urquhart
Total Votes: 5, Helpful Votes: 5, Date: 2008-11-14
Good but error-prone
Rating:
Once you get past the muddled first chapter, this book provides a good treatment of XSLT. However, it is in bad need of a technical editor, as there are numerous errors of the kind not caught by a spell or grammar checker.
Total Votes: 2, Helpful Votes: 0, Date: 2006-01-13
One of my favorite XSLT books
Rating:
This book, as the author himself put it, provides "task-oriented explanations of how to get work done with XSLT". I would define the audience that will benefit most as intermediate XSLT developers - you are expected to have some knowledge of XML and XSLT. Part 1 has a brief tutorial, yet too brief for a complete novice. Part 2 is what makes this book worth reading - it delves into typical tasks XSLT developers encounter: adding, changing, deleting elements and attributes, sorting, avoiding duplicates and many other. Perhaps, the book was planned as a "cookbook" to quickly look up "how do I...", but it is more than that: the author describes how things work in detail, shows the best way to perform a task, warns about subtle issues you would spend hours fighting with on your own. I found the explanations very useful: even reading about basic concepts can bring discoveries. There are more advanced topics too, like dealing with namespaces or recursive techniques; read about them, and more challenging tasks will not catch you unprepared.
The book doesn't touch on really advanced concepts like the famous Muenchian grouping, but this is probably outside of XSLT's everyday repertoire and, therefore, outside of this book's mission.
I found myself referring to this book often in JavaRanch's XML forum. Just recently when solving RSS namespace mystery, I posted a part of the stylesheet that prints namespaces (p.99) and here is the response: "That diagnostic transform is worth its weight in gold!"
And I am neither the author nor a member of his family.
Total Votes: 16, Helpful Votes: 16, Date: 2003-05-20
Dispels the Mists of Confusion
Rating:
This is a great book. It hurts to see some people reveiew it with such real... venomous dislike. I suspect it's a style thing--if you're looking for a dictionary-like exhaustive reference, maybe this book isn't for you. Having said that, I have a low tolerance for lots of verbiage, yet DuCharme's book was totally clear to me. I can poke around in it and find what I want so easily. It is very well organized, and well indexed. It serves as an excellent overview of XSLT, and gets pretty advanced, too. This is a great book.
Total Votes: 5, Helpful Votes: 5, Date: 2003-05-16
Great for getting productive quickly
Rating:
I was faced with a very short deadline for transforming an XML document into another XML document with a completely different format. I went through several web tutorials and was also trying to learn from Michael Kay's "XSLT" but I was struggling to get productive. With XSLT Quickly I finally started to understand XSLT and did successfully meet my deadline. I find Bob Ducharme's explanations much clearer and easier to understand than any other book on XSLT. If you need to get productive quickly, buy this book.
Once you feel comfortable with XSLT, use Michael Kay's book for reference and advanced topics.
Total Votes: 7, Helpful Votes: 6, Date: 2002-12-27
Quickly, goodly and nicely
Rating:
I've just sent several months working my way through Bob Ducharme's Xslt Quickly, referred to here as XQ. It took me a little while as I can be a little dense. So can Xslt. This book, however, does a very good job of explaining fairly carefully, with real world examples, the basics of Xslt.
While my background is in programming, however i work as a tech writer, Xslt programming was different from what i had seen in the past, and to be honest, i had my doubts about this language and its use with xml at all.
It took me a couple of times to get my mind around xslt but suffice it to say that now i am hooked. XQ presents introductory material as well as features of the language/programming in good sized chunks. The sections are designed so that the reader can skip around if they want to, as well as a straight read. I had purchased an e-book version of the book when i thought i could no longer find my hard copy. (I of course found the hard copy version shortly thereafter.) This worked out well, as i felt much better making notes in the printed out version of the e-book. This is a good option to have. I feel that XQ has whetted my appetite to learn more about XSLT, while giving me a good foundation on which to work from. I think XQ can teach you some, simple, yet very powerful idioms within Xslt that you can use immediately. The writing is not dense or boring, yet it is pretty comprehensive. I would certainly recommend this!
Russ Urquhart
Total Votes: 5, Helpful Votes: 5, Date: 2008-11-14
Good but error-prone
Rating:
Once you get past the muddled first chapter, this book provides a good treatment of XSLT. However, it is in bad need of a technical editor, as there are numerous errors of the kind not caught by a spell or grammar checker.
Total Votes: 2, Helpful Votes: 0, Date: 2006-01-13
One of my favorite XSLT books
Rating:
This book, as the author himself put it, provides "task-oriented explanations of how to get work done with XSLT". I would define the audience that will benefit most as intermediate XSLT developers - you are expected to have some knowledge of XML and XSLT. Part 1 has a brief tutorial, yet too brief for a complete novice. Part 2 is what makes this book worth reading - it delves into typical tasks XSLT developers encounter: adding, changing, deleting elements and attributes, sorting, avoiding duplicates and many other. Perhaps, the book was planned as a "cookbook" to quickly look up "how do I...", but it is more than that: the author describes how things work in detail, shows the best way to perform a task, warns about subtle issues you would spend hours fighting with on your own. I found the explanations very useful: even reading about basic concepts can bring discoveries. There are more advanced topics too, like dealing with namespaces or recursive techniques; read about them, and more challenging tasks will not catch you unprepared.
The book doesn't touch on really advanced concepts like the famous Muenchian grouping, but this is probably outside of XSLT's everyday repertoire and, therefore, outside of this book's mission.
I found myself referring to this book often in JavaRanch's XML forum. Just recently when solving RSS namespace mystery, I posted a part of the stylesheet that prints namespaces (p.99) and here is the response: "That diagnostic transform is worth its weight in gold!"
And I am neither the author nor a member of his family.
Total Votes: 16, Helpful Votes: 16, Date: 2003-05-20
Dispels the Mists of Confusion
Rating:
This is a great book. It hurts to see some people reveiew it with such real... venomous dislike. I suspect it's a style thing--if you're looking for a dictionary-like exhaustive reference, maybe this book isn't for you. Having said that, I have a low tolerance for lots of verbiage, yet DuCharme's book was totally clear to me. I can poke around in it and find what I want so easily. It is very well organized, and well indexed. It serves as an excellent overview of XSLT, and gets pretty advanced, too. This is a great book.
Total Votes: 5, Helpful Votes: 5, Date: 2003-05-16
Great for getting productive quickly
Rating:
I was faced with a very short deadline for transforming an XML document into another XML document with a completely different format. I went through several web tutorials and was also trying to learn from Michael Kay's "XSLT" but I was struggling to get productive. With XSLT Quickly I finally started to understand XSLT and did successfully meet my deadline. I find Bob Ducharme's explanations much clearer and easier to understand than any other book on XSLT. If you need to get productive quickly, buy this book.
Once you feel comfortable with XSLT, use Michael Kay's book for reference and advanced topics.
Total Votes: 7, Helpful Votes: 6, Date: 2002-12-27
Quickly, goodly and nicely
Rating:
I've just sent several months working my way through Bob Ducharme's Xslt Quickly, referred to here as XQ. It took me a little while as I can be a little dense. So can Xslt. This book, however, does a very good job of explaining fairly carefully, with real world examples, the basics of Xslt.
While my background is in programming, however i work as a tech writer, Xslt programming was different from what i had seen in the past, and to be honest, i had my doubts about this language and its use with xml at all.
It took me a couple of times to get my mind around xslt but suffice it to say that now i am hooked. XQ presents introductory material as well as features of the language/programming in good sized chunks. The sections are designed so that the reader can skip around if they want to, as well as a straight read. I had purchased an e-book version of the book when i thought i could no longer find my hard copy. (I of course found the hard copy version shortly thereafter.) This worked out well, as i felt much better making notes in the printed out version of the e-book. This is a good option to have. I feel that XQ has whetted my appetite to learn more about XSLT, while giving me a good foundation on which to work from. I think XQ can teach you some, simple, yet very powerful idioms within Xslt that you can use immediately. The writing is not dense or boring, yet it is pretty comprehensive. I would certainly recommend this!
Russ Urquhart
Total Votes: 5, Helpful Votes: 5, Date: 2008-11-14
Good but error-prone
Rating:
Once you get past the muddled first chapter, this book provides a good treatment of XSLT. However, it is in bad need of a technical editor, as there are numerous errors of the kind not caught by a spell or grammar checker.
Total Votes: 2, Helpful Votes: 0, Date: 2006-01-13
One of my favorite XSLT books
Rating:
This book, as the author himself put it, provides "task-oriented explanations of how to get work done with XSLT". I would define the audience that will benefit most as intermediate XSLT developers - you are expected to have some knowledge of XML and XSLT. Part 1 has a brief tutorial, yet too brief for a complete novice. Part 2 is what makes this book worth reading - it delves into typical tasks XSLT developers encounter: adding, changing, deleting elements and attributes, sorting, avoiding duplicates and many other. Perhaps, the book was planned as a "cookbook" to quickly look up "how do I...", but it is more than that: the author describes how things work in detail, shows the best way to perform a task, warns about subtle issues you would spend hours fighting with on your own. I found the explanations very useful: even reading about basic concepts can bring discoveries. There are more advanced topics too, like dealing with namespaces or recursive techniques; read about them, and more challenging tasks will not catch you unprepared.
The book doesn't touch on really advanced concepts like the famous Muenchian grouping, but this is probably outside of XSLT's everyday repertoire and, therefore, outside of this book's mission.
I found myself referring to this book often in JavaRanch's XML forum. Just recently when solving RSS namespace mystery, I posted a part of the stylesheet that prints namespaces (p.99) and here is the response: "That diagnostic transform is worth its weight in gold!"
And I am neither the author nor a member of his family.
Total Votes: 16, Helpful Votes: 16, Date: 2003-05-20
Dispels the Mists of Confusion
Rating:
This is a great book. It hurts to see some people reveiew it with such real... venomous dislike. I suspect it's a style thing--if you're looking for a dictionary-like exhaustive reference, maybe this book isn't for you. Having said that, I have a low tolerance for lots of verbiage, yet DuCharme's book was totally clear to me. I can poke around in it and find what I want so easily. It is very well organized, and well indexed. It serves as an excellent overview of XSLT, and gets pretty advanced, too. This is a great book.
Total Votes: 5, Helpful Votes: 5, Date: 2003-05-16
Great for getting productive quickly
Rating:
I was faced with a very short deadline for transforming an XML document into another XML document with a completely different format. I went through several web tutorials and was also trying to learn from Michael Kay's "XSLT" but I was struggling to get productive. With XSLT Quickly I finally started to understand XSLT and did successfully meet my deadline. I find Bob Ducharme's explanations much clearer and easier to understand than any other book on XSLT. If you need to get productive quickly, buy this book.
Once you feel comfortable with XSLT, use Michael Kay's book for reference and advanced topics.
Total Votes: 7, Helpful Votes: 6, Date: 2002-12-27
