Preface

Welcome to Real World XML . This book is designed to be as comprehensiveand as accessibleas possible for a single book on XML. XML is a standard, not an implementation, and it's become an umbrella for a great number of topics. You'll find XML just about everywhere you look on the Internet today, and even in many places behind the scenes (such as internally in Netscape Navigator 6). I believe this book provides more complete coverage of what's going on in XML than any other XML book today.

You'll find coverage of all the official XML standards here. I'll also take a look at many of the most popular and important implementations of XML that are out there, and put them to work in this book.

That's just part of the storywe'll also put XML to work in depth, pushing the envelope as far as it can go. The best way to learn any topic like XML is by example, and this is an example-oriented book. You'll find hundreds of tested examples here, ready to be used.

Writing XML is not some ordinary and monotonous task: it inspires artistry, devotion, passion, exaltation, and eccentricitynot to mention exasperation and frustration. I'll try to be true to that spirit and capture as much of the excitement and power of XML in this book as I can.