Horribly dense for beginners.

XML does not exactly make for exciting reading. It's about as dry as the Mojave Desert. But I did manage to struggle thru the first four chapters of this book. Then I gave up. This book should be retitled Teach Yourself XML in 210 Days, not 21.

The author throws a lot of code at you before you even have a grasp of what XML is all about. And the code is mostly C.I.P.U. (clear if previously understood) just like a lot of other dense programming books out there. Some authors seem to think that if you just read thru their code everything will become perfectly obvious. Not! (Eggheaded mathematicians are wont to do the same, which is why there are so few who know how to teach math.)

At then end of the fourth chapter I still had absolutely no idea what XML was good for and whether it was worth the long learning curve or not. I'm sure XML must be good for something! But if a book can't tell me within four chapters what its subject is useful for then it's not a book I can recommend. In the meantime, I will continue to search for a better XML primer, one that can at least clue me in on what the buzz is all about.

Other Reviews

• Very Disappointing
• Good, solid book
• Horribly dense for beginners.
• what a let down...