pro php xml and web services
Let's get the obvious out of the way: this book is massive. Like 850 pages massive. And it's all about XML and PHP. Normally I'd be put off by a book like this. I'd think that there had to have been an easier and shorter way to explain these technologies. But I gave this book a chance anyway, and in the end, I wasn't disappointed at all.
Before I started reading, I knew just the basics about XML. I knew you could write some markup, transfer information using XML-RPC, and a little RSS. But that was about it. However, after finishing, I knew about such wonderful acronyms like XSLT, XPath, WDDX, and UDDI. I was also able to build on my beginning knowledge of RSS, DOM, XML-RPC, and SOAP. And finally, I learned all about the world of XML Security which I never knew existed.
In between the teachings of these XML topics, PHP was used for the code examples. Although PHP has an extremely large selection of XML tools and a lot of time was spent with these tools, I found the coverage to be complementary rather than a main subject. What I mean is that Mr. Richards covered every aspect of XML in great detail. He made sure the reader understood the purpose and mechanics of each topic first. Only after that did he present the reader with the knowledge of how to apply that topic with PHP. This is similar to saying, "Here's XML and here's how to do it with PHP. However, if you don't like the PHP way, at least you still know the core concepts so you can apply it another way." whew.
Although this book is pretty long, I found it to be well written and just the right length to properly go over all the included topics. Each topic is covered in a manageable chapter -- and some of the chapters even conclude with really nice example projects. It's obvious Mr. Richards spent a lot of time putting this book together and his finished work was well worth the effort. Apress has done a great job releasing another "Pro" title and by choosing Mr. Richards to write it. I give this book a 10/10.
