XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference is the only authoritative reference on XPath, a sub-language within XSLT that determines which part of an XML document the XSLT transforms. Written for professional programmers who use XML every day but find the W3C XPath specifications tough to slog through, this book explains in everyday language what every construct in the language does and how to use it. It also offers background material on the design thinking behind the language, gentle criticism of the language specification when appropriate, and a diverse range of interesting examples in various application areas.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - very good reference
Explains the changes and how to use the new version of the standard. This book got me interested in Lisp and functional programming.
Rating: - Complete and authoritative reference, terrible format
I have never had a question about XPath that wasn't answered by this book. I appreciate having an authoritative reference written by someone who was deeply involved in the development of the standard.
However, this book (and its companion XSLT reference) is perhaps the worst-formatted reference book I have ever seen. Much of the book consists of an alphabetical reference of XPath functions. Unfortunately, the page headers and footers only contain page numbers and chapter titles. ... Read More
Rating: - Utility manual
I'm reading Michel Kay many years ago. The XPath separate book from XSLT book is a very useful tool.
Rating: - Highly Unpractical, Only Good If You Already Know It
If you are an expert in XPath then this book might be worth having. But if you only have a general knowledge of XPath this book is basically useless. The author clearly has a solid knowledge of his topic. But the ability to communicate it in a practical way is sorely lacking.
Rating: - Not the author's fault (I think)
The problems people describe aren't the author's fault - I think. If someone did the ghostwriting, even with him dealing with the submitted manuscript, then shame on Mr. Kay, although his reputation would preclude this being a possibility. I think the odds would be like the lottery - so this would be an anti-lottery.
As to the quality of the WROX books, something many people forget is WROX went belly up, despite the quality of their material. The assets & IP were picked up by Wiley ... Read More
- very good reference
- Complete and authoritative reference, terrible format
- Highly Unpractical, Only Good If You Already Know It
- Not the author's fault (I think)
