Amazon.com
Amid the technical hoopla over the Extensible Markup Language (XML), many managers and executives find themselves scratching their heads and wondering what the new language means to them. In XML: A Manager's Guide, author Kevin Dick offers an executive summary of this exciting new technology that focuses on the big picture.
This book is a quick read, partly due to its bulleted format. Frequent topic headings and accompanying blurbs in the margin for each make it easy for even hurried readers to pick up the key concepts quickly. However, the author doesn't cut any corners in describing the basic nature of XML and its associated standards and tools. The first part of the book is devoted to this high-level tutorial and includes useful diagrams and code examples that nonprogrammers can easily understand.
The most instructive part of the book comes in the second half. Here, the author illustrates some of the ways XML can be useful in the real world and does a great job of demonstrating the wide-reaching applications of XML. Five example applications for enterprises and five more for vendors are presented in miniature case studies. Here the reader will see how XML can be used for workflow, data integration, distributed protocols, knowledge management, and more. --Stephen W. Plain
Topics covered: XML standards background, Document Type Definitions, schemas, XLink, XSL, XSLT, development tools, associated standard status, XML application examples.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Book News, Inc.
Explains the basic XML principles and elements without going into the detail needed to develop applications. Written for all types of managers, the book identifies the benefits offered by the standards related to XML, the types of software infrastructure available, and the staff necessary to deploy XML applications. The final chapters present ten example XML applications. The second edition adds a chapter on XML messaging and web services.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Exactly what it says it is, March 12, 2001
Reviewer:
C. Gilbert "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
This little book is an excellent resource for managers, consultants, project managers or anyone else who has a need to understand the issues involved with XML without needing to create it. The chapters cover areas such as XML Basics, Processes and People, and Five XML Applications for Enterprise.
_XML: A Manager's Guide_ is made additionally useful through the use of the sidebar explanations which further distill the information in the major paragraphs down to a summary of their contents.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
No other XML book is so clear and so focused, April 28, 2000
Reviewer:
Paulo Rios "Kreatis" (Europe) - See all my reviews
While there are so many people talking about XML, there are not so many good books about it in the market. Most of them are simply obscure. It makes hard for decision makers to see all the potential behind this technology. This book takes a light but conceptually deeper approach. It goes into sufficient detail to make most other books looking too thick. This clear, focused and intelligent little book will open new doors to you. Some managers may even end up knowing a lot more than their own experts and consultants.
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Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Really is the book, March 18, 2003
Reviewer:
Vince Kenyon (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
Excellent rendition of the XML landscape, painted mostly in broad brushstrokes, but detailed in places with enough code samples and product names to show what it's like on the ground with this technology.
Describes the problems that XML attacks. Moves on to expose some details of XML and DTD. All of the related acronyms and buzzwords are then catalogued in the next two chapters on associated standards and web services. Surveys the array of infrastructure software for supporting XML-based applications. Proposes processes and skills for building applications with XML. Finishes with an examination of ten typical applications for XML.
Positions these technologies within conceptual frameworks. Takes pains, for example, to distinguish clearly between remote interface and business document messaging architectures before launching into the details of XML messaging and web services. The classification schemes for XML infrastructure software and XML applications are also most helpful.
If you've read and appreciated David Taylor's popular books on object technology, then you'll like Mr. Dick's presentation, which follows the same pattern. The prose is clear. Major divisions are clearly marked. Every paragraph is summarized with a brief sentence beside it in the margin. I find these summaries particularly helpful in locating a specific paragraph that I want to re-read.
Mr. Taylor, who in addition to establishing the pattern also wrote the foreword, is probably correct: for those of us who will read only one book on XML, "this is the book."
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Technical enough to be useful but not overly so, October 29, 2002
In the world of over-hyped and under-performing technologies, the manager, who is often not technically proficient, is left trying to make decisions with insufficient or inaccurate information. Attempting to keep everything organized and learn the basics of and justifications for the new technologies is a hurdle that few can leap. Fortunately, this book lowers the bar to some extent. It is an explanation of the new XML (eXtended Markup Language) technologies without being a tutorial on the particulars.
As an overview, it covers all of the primary aspects of XML, what it is used for, how files are structured and the general standards that now exist. It will not teach you XML, but from it you will learn what it can and will be used for. Some time is also spent on XML messaging and web services as well as the different type of documents that can be created. The explanations are well done, landing neatly within the narrow range of being technical enough to be worth reading but not so technical as to be beyond the grasp of the intended audience.
If you are interested in understanding what XML is and are not yet ready for the technical details, then this book will show you what you need to know. In the hyper-competitive world of modern business, knowing what XML can do in data transfer and storage is a necessary skill for many. This book makes the opportunity to learn it readily available.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Manager should and could read!, November 8, 2001
Reviewer:
Ma, Tien Jui (Taipei Taiwan) - See all my reviews
First, the length of this book is just right for a manager.
Second, the content of this book is just what a manager should know about, especially on the impact of application development process, resource and skill.
Third, the edit style is friendly for the manager, too.
So managers, don't hestitate to take and read this tiny book!
I found this book to be a concise and easily understood overview of what XML can do for business. I've shared copies with one or two special clients and gotten a positive response.
Exactly what it says it is, March 12, 2001
Really is the book, March 18, 2003