Member Avatar for crestaldin

Hi everyone,

I am new to XML in fact I am just about to really learn XML because I encoutered a lot of XML stuffs during my summer internship that ended a couple of weeks ago.

I am plannning to get a book titled "Beginning XML " by David Hunter , Andrew Watt et al , but I want to find out if this book is ideal for beginners or if anyone can recommend any other book that is suitable for beginners

Thanks in aniticpation of your response.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Member #114696

Dani AI

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A concise learning plan and some practical tips to complement the replies already in this thread.

Several replies contrast two common approaches: downloadable/print resources (noted by ) and online tutorials (noted by ), with pointing out the usual tradeoffs (ads, online access). A balanced path gives the best long-term results: a gentle tutorial to get hands-on quickly, a more thorough reference for concepts and examples, and a compact reference for daily use.

Start-by-step practical path:

  • Learn well-formed XML first: elements, attributes, a single root, proper nesting, case sensitivity, the XML declaration, and escaping special characters. A minimal well-formed document looks like:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<book id="b1">
  <title>XML Basics</title>
  <author>Jane Doe</author>
</book>

  • Next, learn validation (DTD vs schema) and when to use each.

  • Learn XPath for querying and XSLT for transforming documents.

  • Learn parsing models (DOM, SAX/streaming): DOM is easy for small docs, streaming is required for large feeds.

  • Apply skills to small projects (configuration files, parsing RSS/Atom-like feeds, simple transformations).

Troubleshooting tips and common pitfalls:

  • Unescaped ampersands, missing root elements, and mismatched tags are the most frequent well-formedness errors.
  • Character-encoding mismatches cause subtle bugs; ensure the file encoding matches the XML declaration.
  • Namespaces often confuse beginners — pay attention to the prefix vs default-namespace behavior.

Choosing study materials:

  • Prefer resources that include runnable examples and exercises, and that cover parsing, validation, and transformations.
  • Avoid pirated downloads; many reputable references and free official specs exist. Pair quick online tutorials with an authoritative reference so concepts and edge cases are clear.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for beatle555

Hi everyone,

I am new to XML in fact I am just about to really learn XML because I encoutered a lot of XML stuffs during my summer internship that ended a couple of weeks ago.

I am plannning to get a book titled "Beginning XML " by David Hunter , Andrew Watt et al , but I want to find out if this book is ideal for beginners or if anyone can recommend any other book that is suitable for beginners

Thanks in aniticpation of your response.

lot of ebooks available for starters

XML Pocket Reference, Second Edition

Sams Teach Yourself XML in 24 Hours, Complete Starter Kit

Xml For Dummies

enjoy:)

Member Avatar for Member #114696

i recommend u you to use the above books they are good. as far as about w3schools, it contains just online tutorials and to read those you have to be online everytime and see those adds.

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