Rating:  - Both a tutorial and a reference
I'm really pleased with this book. It is the clearest introduction to the subject I have found. It even made namespaces seem simple. It can be read sequentially, but also used as a reference. Some reviewers thought it was just a retelling of the spec (which in itself is quite useful given the complexity of the spec!) but I think it had a lot more than that, because it explained why you use certain functionality and in what situations, something the spec doesn't seem to address. The chapter on Extensibility and Reuse was particularly helpful to us in writing schemas that can be extended and reused by others who want to customize ours. I also really like that the author is part of the committee that designed XML Schema - it gives me confidence that the book is accurate and current.
Rating:  - boooring
This book just happens to be *first*. Just wait until some of the other XML Schema books that are listed as "not yet published" hit the racks. You'll forget about this book rather quickly.
In my opinion, this book serves more as a reference and doesn't really serve-up any good ideas or suggested practices. In addition, one of the most annoying aspects of this book is the SIZE OF THE PRINT. It's so darned big on relatively small pages that when they referred to a figure, I would sometimes have to go backwards or forwards 2 pages. It almost reminds me of writing my college thesis... make the font bigger, spread the text further apart, move in the margins... voila 100 pages...
Rating:  - Order of Material Does Not Facilitate Learning
True, this book provides a comprehensive look at XML Schema, but the order that the material is presented in leaves much to be desired. It is not until chapter 7 that we begin to learn how to string together element declarations to start building a schema. Chapters 1-6 deal with XML Schema history, a sort of quick tour that does not take the place of a tutorial, Namespaces, Schema composition, Instances and Documentation and extentions. While the "inverted pyramid" approach to revealing information may be academically correct -- it has not helped me learn XML Schema efficiently. This book is essentially a retelling of the W3C XML Schema Recommendation.
. Based on a search here at Amazon, it looks like there may be a book coming from O'Reilly based on this material.
I gave the book 3 stars, as the book seems to be accurate and complete. I don't think that having this book is necessarily a bad thing, perhaps just a bad place to start.
Rating: - Clarity!
I read this book from cover to cover this weekend. That fact alone tells you something about its contents! If you are the sort of person who finds the W3C's XML Schema specification completely transparent and easy to read then Priscilla Walmsley's book is useless fluff. If, however, like virtually everyone on the planet, you find the XML Schema specification indecipherable, do yourself a favour: either forget totally about the abomination that is XML Schema OR read Priscilla's book and discover that XML Schema is finite, is do-able and has certain simplifying characteristics (such as the fact that all named components must be global) that make it tolerable.
The process of reading this book is effortless. Every sentence is crafted to be illuminating without the merest hint of padding. This book is really a comprehensive reference manual that reads like a coherent novel while at the same time lacking pretentious verbiage.
As 2002 dawned, I resolved not to buy any more books...I have far too many and all the specifications are available free online anyway. Having struggled for days with a few online articles and the three XML Schema specification documents, I decided that I really did need the help of a book...but thought it unlikely that I would find one that was little more than a rehash of the specs. In a sense, Priscilla's book is a rehash of the specs. in as much as it doesn't present anything more than can be found in the specs. The presentation is what counts here though: clear examples for EVERY aspect of the syntax; well-organized content that at every point assumes no more knowledge that has been presented earlier.
Thanks Priscilla for changing my perception of XML Schema and for providing a book that was easy to read and that is now my number one reference for XML Schema :-)
Rating: - Excellent Information
This book answered my questions about XMLSchema. Prior to reading it I felt intimidated by the W3C XMLSchema specification. Now, I understand further why Schema's are so valuable and necessary. Several other technical books I have read seem to be simple paraphrases of W3C specifications. However, this book is very well written and full of clear examples.
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