XQuery from the Experts: A Guide to the W3C XML Query Language

Customer Reviews:

An excellent XQuery starter book and reference.......2004-10-23

This book is a compact and thorough guide to XQuery. The Jonathan Robie tutorial in the beginning of the book is itself worth the overall price of the book.

Nice coverage of XQuery/XPath.......2004-05-01

A very useful explanation of XQuery and how to use it to analyse XML data. The book shows how this can be done with or without a supporting XML Schema or DTD that describes the XML. The authors explain why this goes beyond a Google-type search. The latter does not (at least currently) know or use any structural information about data, primarily because it scans all types of mostly unstructured data.

But the rise of XML has driven demand for XQuery, to take advantage of this structure. The book also shows how XPath is used, as part of the XQuery implementation.

Another merit of the book is its good description of the difference between XQuery and XSLT. The latter also has been getting a lot of attention from programmers. But, as explained by the authors, XSLT is mainly used on document centric data, mostly to generate HTML. By contrast, XQuery has no such restriction.

Excellent survey of a complex topic by some of the designers.......2004-04-30

Full disclosure: I know all of the authors and count them among my friends.

In spite of that, I can honestly say that I think this book is a very valuable guide to the emerging standard query language for XML. The insights provided by people who are actually doing the day-to-day design, and implementation in some cases, of this language are not available in any other XQuery book.

The various chapters of the book provide overviews, design precepts, detailed examples, and thorough explanations (even of subjects as arcane as the static typing rules of the language).

I enthusiastically encourage everybody interested in XQuery to add this book to their libraries.

Good for XQuery side topics.......2004-03-14

This is a good book if you know what you are getting. If you are looking for a focused guide to XQuery practical applications you aren't going to like this book. It's worth repeating, this is not a general reference or introduction to XQuery. This is a set of articles on XQuery related topics. The first 'chapter' is an introduction to XQuery which is actually quite good. After that is a chapter on the history of XQuery. Then there is a chapter on XSLT and XPath, which is a nice, but brief, introduction to those topics. There is a section on the semantics of XQuery which is so thick you could cut it with a knife. The book finishes with two chapters on relational to XML mapping.

If you are a serious XQuery user, are interested in a case study in standards development, or are into relational theory this book is probably worth a look.

Very informative set of essays.......2004-02-24

Simply good. A collection of essays written by so many well-known names in the industry covering various aspects of the XQuery language from a "A Guided Tour" to "Introduction to Formal Semantics". A book that would be very useful for people with XSLT background, and need more power to do their job. A book that closes the between Relational Databases and XML.

A good number of authors and innovators contributed materials to this book:
- Don Chamberlin (an editor of the XML Query Use Cases, XQuery 1.0, XML Path Language 2.0 working drafts),
- Denise Draper (one of the editors of XQuery 1.0 Formal Semantics),
- Mary Fernandez (one of the editors of the working drafts of XQuery 1.0, XPath 2.0 Data Model, XML Path Language and XQuery 1.0 Formal Semantics),
- Howard Katz (editor of this book)
- Michael Kay (an editor of the XSLT, XSLT 2.0 and XQuery Serialization and XML Path Language 2.0 working drafts)
- Jonathan Robie (an editor of XQuery 1.0, XML Query Requirements, XML Syntax for XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 working drafts)
- Michael Rys (an editor of the XQuery Formal Semantics, XML Syntax for XQuery, XML Query Requirements, XML Query and the XPath Full-Text Requirements working drafts)
- Jerome Simeon (an editor of XQuery 1.0, XPath 2.0 and the XQuery Formal Semantics working drafts)
- Jim Tivy (System architect of the ODMC 1.0 SQL Engine for Microsoft)
- Philip Walder (an editor of the XQuery, XPath Formal Semantics and the XML Schema working drafts)

Even though that some of the chapter in this book will benefit an expert programmer, with a solid background in XML, there are more than enough chapter that will benefit the beginner and one's who are no really familiar with XPath, XQuery and XSLT. The book starts by going over the basics of the XQuery language. The Guided Tour is simply a refresher, and introduces the reader to XQuery and its syntax/semantics. It talks about the differences between XPath and XQuery for example, and the benefits of XQuery over XPath. Small code sections are used to convey to the read the difference of one technology versus the other. XPath and XQuery get a lot of attention in this book as there are lots of similarities between the two as far as syntax is concerned and plenty of difference as far as its capabilities with XPath.
The author[s] dedicate the second chapter to the principles behind the design decisions of the XQuery language. Don Chamberlin, the author of this chapter, write the following mission statement for XQuery:
"The purpose of the new query language was to provide a flexability to extract information from real and virtual XML documents."
It is very refreshing to see the committee for creating XML actually went to the process of defining requirements, design definitions and the rest of the formal specification realization before they actually "wrote" the language. The message of formalism is very clear throughout the book. At each stage of design for this new language, proper documents have been generated (Use Case doc, Requirements doc, etc) that portray a good process. The section on formal semantics adds the following:
"After the Java programming language was released, several formal semantics of the language were written. Some of these semantics revealed errors in the type system, which in turn could lead to security holes in browsers that run Java programs. ..."

XQuery looks very similar to XPath, and this book spends a couple of chapters (a little of chapter 2, and most of chapter 3) to talk about the similarities, differences and influences of one language over the other. The new releases of XSTL, XPath and XQuery 1.0 look very similar since these groups collaborated with each other throughout the process of development. If you don't know anything about XPath or XSLT, and want to know how they differ and hoe they have evolved in the recent years, chapter 3, by Michael Kay, is what you need to read - or may even start with before you read the other chapters in this book. Chapter 3 starts off very easy, but it goes into more advanced topics such as optimization techniques used with XQuery - specially the one's that have been used before with XSLT and XPath for the same purpose.
One of the most interesting chapters in this book is chapter 5 on Formal Semantics. It is rare and rather refreshing to see a language being broken up like that and it's predicate logic and semantics be given in such detail. You can skip this chapter all together, but I suggest otherwise. Even if it is to realize how language processing and semantics of a language work. I would love to see such topic for C++ or JAVA... This chapter is good for anyone interested in optimization techniques and wishes to learn more about the details and correctness of the XQuery language.
Applications of XQuery at they apply to Databases and how it can be integrated into databases are covered in part 4.
XQuery had the capability to navigate, select, combine, transform, sort and aggregate XML data - thus making the integration of XQuery with the backend database very powerful and rather simple. XML data, and how it can be integrated into the database with the help of XQuery is covered in detail and two techniques are laid out: the LOB (large object) representation where the entire XML data is saved as a large object in the database, and the composed representation where each XML element is stored individually.
Even though XQuery is fairly a new language, the authors in this book go to great length depicting the formalism, the correctness, the stability and flexibility of the XQuery language. The chapters that cover Database integration with XML data clearly convey the power of this language, and thought process that went behind designing such stable and powerful language.

Average customer rating:

Like season 6 of 24, this is disappointing.

Too much verbage, takes forever to get to the point

A balanced view of XQuery with several excellent use-cases

DTD, but little Schema

A must for anyone working with XML

Querying XML, : XQuery, XPath, and SQL/XML in context (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
Jim Melton , and Stephen Buxton
Manufacturer: Morgan Kaufmann
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Binding: Paperback

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XQuery: The XML Query Language

XML in a Nutshell, Third Edition

XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer)

XQuery XQuery

Professional SQL Server 2005 XML (Programmer to Programmer)

ASIN: 1558607110

Book Description

XML has become the lingua franca for representing business data, for exchanging information between business partners and applications, and for adding structure
and sometimes meaningto text-based documents. XML offers some special challenges and opportunities in the area of search: querying XML can produce very precise, fine-grained results, if you know how to express and execute those queries.

For software developers and systems architects: this book teaches the most useful approaches to querying XML documents and repositories. This book will also help managers and project leaders grasp how querying XML fits into the larger context of querying and XML. Querying XML provides a comprehensive background from fundamental concepts (What is XML?) to data models (the Infoset, PSVI, XQuery Data Model), to APIs (querying XML from SQL or Java) and more.

* Presents the concepts clearly, and demonstrates them with illustrations and examples; offers a thorough mastery of the subject area in a single book.
* Provides comprehensive coverage of XML query languages, and the concepts needed to understand them completely (such as the XQuery Data Model).
* Shows how to query XML documents and data using: XPath (the XML Path Language); XQuery, soon to be the new W3C Recommendation for querying XML; XQuery's companion XQueryX; and SQL, featuring the SQL/XML
* Includes an extensive set of XQuery, XPath, SQL, Java, and other examples, with links to downloadable code and data samples.

Customer Reviews:

Like season 6 of 24, this is disappointing. .......2007-05-22

I have had this book for almost a month now. This book is painful to get through. I can usually get through a technical book within a week and try some examples. I started reading this book front to back and did not skip any sections.

I am not a NOOB when it comes to XML so I found this surprising. I am a certified XML developer (from before XQuery), an experienced programming engineer of 8 years, an MCAD.Net, and I have even written a paper on XQuery for a Master's Program and I simply have become unmotivated and am struggling to get through this book. As others have stated in reviews, this book takes a long time to get to the point. I like to get my money's worth when I buy a book though.

I kept asking myself chapter after chapter "when do we start programming some examples?" The first 10 chapters are filled with everything but XQuery. The author covers the background of XML and why we would use XQuery in detail. I see the argument for why this book may be beneficial to some but if you wish to get up and running on XQuery this is not the book for you.

I may update this as I finish off the book. I am getting more into actual XQuery syntax and grammar as of chapter 11. A flip through the TOC shows that the author covers some implementation info. My goal was to have a better understanding of how to actually implement XQuery and learn some of the more detailed points of it versus just FLWOR that the numerous online tutorials offer. I have purchased another book by O'Reilly instead.

Update: I received the O'Reilly book right after writing this review. I flipped through the TOC and first few pages of XQuery by O'Reilly for a comparison. Wow! These two books could not be any different. I am on chapter 5 of the O'Reilly XQuery book just in a few hours of off and on reading at work. It appears thus far to be the better choice. Luckily, work is paying for these books so I was only cheated out of time buying "Querying XML".

Too much verbage, takes forever to get to the point.......2006-10-08

If you need to learn XQuery or XPath fast, this is not the book, or you need to skip the first 8 chapters. XQuery and XPath are hardly even mentioned until Chapter 9. The first 8 chapters discuss everything except what is in the title. XML is a pretty boring topic, and excess verbage doesn't help.

A balanced view of XQuery with several excellent use-cases.......2006-09-07

The authors are XQuery standardization committee members with long tenures at Oracle, thus possessing an unique grounding in that 'other' query language, SQL. As a result, the book is balanced with respect to what SQL/XML and XQuery can respectively do. A number of examples are provided, to illustrate where XQuery is useful and where other query mechanisms might work.

DTD, but little Schema.......2006-09-05

My only complaint with this book is that it emphasizes DTD over Schema a bit too much. For this and other reasons, I felt the treatment of XML seemed a little dated, and also a bit shallow.

A must for anyone working with XML.......2006-06-17

I've been an XQuery developer for an academic press for a number of years, and I read this book cover to cover. It sets out to describe methods for querying and does so,
in an almost scholarly fashion, for many common but different contexts. I found it provided cohesion to the diverse world of XML, from broad subjects to the details of spec grammars--a very welcome contribution to a technical library.

Average customer rating:

Good Book for Database Professionals to Learn XQuery
A specific, valuable reference
First Impressions
Great tutorial and reference on XQuery
Best XQuery book available to date!

XQuery
Priscilla Walmsley
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
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ASIN: 0596006349

Book Description

With the XQuery 1.0 standard, you finally have a tool that will make it much easier to search, extract and manipulate information from XML content stored in databases. This in-depth tutorial not only walks you through the XQuery specification, but also teaches you how to program with this widely anticipated query language.

XQuery is for query writers who have some knowledge of XML basics, but not necessarily advanced knowledge of XML-related technologies. It can be used both as a tutorial, by reading cover to cover, and as a reference, by using the comprehensive index and appendixes. Either way, you will find the background knowledge in namespaces, schemas, built-in types and regular expressions that is relevant to writing XML queries. This book provides:

A high-level overview and quick tour of XQuery
Information to write sophisticated queries, without being bogged down by the details of types, namespaces, and schemas
Advanced concepts for users who want to take advantage of modularity, namespaces, typing and schemas
Guidelines for working with specific types of data, such as numbers, strings, dates, URIs and processing instructions
A complete alphabetical reference to the built-in functions and types

You will also learn about XQuery's support for filtering, sorting, and grouping data, as well as how to use FLWOR expressions, XPath, and XQuery tools for extracting and combining information. With this book, you will discover how to apply all of these tools to a wide variety of data sources, and how to recombine information from multiple sources into a single final output result.

Whether you're coming from SQL, XSLT, or starting from scratch, this carefully paced tutorial takes you through the final 1.0 standard in detail.

Customer Reviews:

Good Book for Database Professionals to Learn XQuery.......2007-09-04

This is a nice, comprehensive book written by someone highly qualified to talk about XQuery. The author, Priscilla Walmsley, was a member of the W3C XML Schema Working Group.

Now that XML is being added to database management systems, DBAs and database developers will need to know how to query that data. And they'll more than likely be using XQuery to do it. As such, this book would be a good way for database professionals to gain expertise on XQuery.

Walmsley's book offers a concise, yet in-depth tutorial on the XQuery language specification. After digesting these 25 chapters you'll have the knowledge required to program using XQuery to read your XML data. Whether you're coming from a relational and SQL background or you're an XML and XSLT coder, this well-written text will help you understand and write queries using XQuery.

A specific, valuable reference.......2007-07-08

XML programmers and database users will find Priscilla Walmsley's XQUERY a specific, valuable reference which is based on the Xquery 1.0 standards and which offers a basic tutorial on specifications and programming with the query language base. Query writers should have some knowledge of XML basics to use this, and can quickly progress into the 'advanced' category using an overview and tour of Xquery which includes guidelines for working with different types of data and an A-Z reference to the program's functions.

First Impressions.......2007-05-23

My first impression of this book is that it is fantastic. Just flip through the first chapter and you'll see references to code snippets and valuable explanations of XQuery. This book is what I was seeking. The author knows the reader has an interest in the subject and does not waste time explaining what XML is and why one would want to query it etc. This book is not selling the technology. It teaches it which is a lesson the author of "Querying XML" could learn from.

I am very happy thus far with this book.

Great tutorial and reference on XQuery.......2007-05-17

The use of XML has become ubiquitous over the last five years, and thus a huge amount of data is now stored in XML, both as databases and as documents. XML data can include highly structured data such as sales figures, less structured data such as product catalogs, and unstructured data such as books. With such a variety of data stored as XML, in each case different elements of the data must be formatted and transformed in a particular way. This is where XQuery comes in. It is a query language that allows the user to select those XML data elements of interest, reorganize them, transform them, and finally return the results in a data structure. This book acts as an up-to-date tutorial and reference on this useful technology. There are plenty of examples shown that illustrate the concepts being presented. The following is a detailed description of the book's contents:

1. Introduction to XQuery - Provides the basic purpose and capabilities of XQuery and also acts as a quick introduction to its features. It provides a basic familiarity with the most commonly used kinds of expressions, without getting too bogged down in the details.

2. XQuery Foundations - a brief overview of the foundations of XQuery including its design, its place among XML-related standards, and its processing model. It also discusses the underlying data model behind XQuery and the use of types and namespaces in queries.

3. Expressions: XQuery Building Blocks - The basic unit of evaluation in XQuery is the expression. A query contains expressions that can be made up of a number of sub-expressions, which may themselves be composed from other sub-expressions. This chapter explains the XQuery syntax, and covers the most basic types of expressions that can be used in queries: literals, variables, function calls, and comments.

4. Navigating Input Documents Using Paths - Path expressions navigate input documents to select elements and attributes of interest. This chapter explains how to use these path expressions to select elements and attributes from an input document and apply predicates to filter those results. It also covers the different methods of accessing input documents.

5. Adding Elements and Attributes to Results - Queries often include some XML elements and attributes that structure the results. This chapter explains how you can create entirely new elements and attributes and include them in your results.

6. Selecting and Joining Using FLWORs - Describes the facilities in XQuery for selecting, filtering, and joining data from one or more input documents. Included is the syntax of FLWORs (for, let, where, order by, return) and quantitative expressions.

7. Sorting and Grouping - How to sort and group data from input documents. This chapter covers sorting in FLWORs, grouping results together, and calculating summary values using the aggregation functions.

8. Functions - Describes this useful feature of XQuery that allow a wide array of built-in functionality, as well as the ability to modularize and reuse parts of queries. There are two kinds of functions: built-in functions and user-defined functions, and this chapter looks at them both.

9. Advanced Queries - Describes syntax and techniques for some commonly requested query capabilities by showing you some creative ways to apply XQuery syntax.

10. Namespaces and XQuery - The first part provides a refresher on namespaces in XML input documents in general. Next the use of namespaces in queries is covered including how to declare and refer to them and how to control their appearance in your results.

11. A Closer Look at Types - Goes into detail on the set of built-in types in XQuery. A good explanation of the automatic type conversions performed by the processors and a description of the expressions that are relevant to type constructors, cast and castable expressions, and instance of expressions.

12. Queries, Prologs, and Modules - Discusses the structure of queries starting with the query prolog and its various declarations. The assembly of queries from multiple modules, declaration of global variables, and definition of external functions is then tackled.

13. Using Schemas with XQuery - Provides a brief overview of XML Schema. Discusses how schemas are used with queries by importing schema definitions and taking advantage of schema-defined types.

14. Static Typing - Static typing in XQuery means reporting all possible type errors at compile time instead of run time. Discussed in the context of aggressive error reporting.

15. Principles of Query Design - Discusses the goals of query design with particular attention paid to handling errors and tuning for performance.

16. Working with Numbers - Describes the four major numeric types, along with the operators and functions that act on numeric values. The operators include comparisons and arithmetic operations. The functions that operate on numeric values that are discussed include round and sum.

17. Working with Strings - Discusses constructing and comparing strings and provides an overview of the built-in functions that manipulate strings. It also explains related features such as whitespace handling and internationalization.

18. Regular Expressions - Probably already a familiar concept to the Unix-aware, this discusses the topic in context of the XQuery language.

19. Working with Dates, Times, and Durations - Explains the eleven date-related types used in XQuery and the functions and operators that act on them.

20. Working with Qualified Names, URIs, and IDs - Each of these types has unique properties and complexities that sets it apart from simple strings. Describes the functions and constructors that act on them.

21. Working with Other XML Components - Discusses comments, processing instructions, documents, and text nodes. CDATA sections and XML character and entity references are also covered in this chapter.

22. Additional XQuery-Related Standards - Discusses serialization, XQueryX, XQuery Updates, Full-Text search, and XQJ. These are peripheral standards that complement, but are not central to, the XQuery 1.0 language.

23. Implementation-Specific Features - Looks at some of the implementation-specific aspects of XQuery that provide customized functions and settings for specific use cases.

24. XQuery for SQL Users - Provides information for readers who are already using SQL and relational databases. It compares SQL and XQuery and also shows how to use them together.

25. XQuery for XSLT Users - The similarities and differences between XQuery and XSLT. This chapter also shows XSLT 1.0/XPath 1.0 users the differences and compatibility problems when moving to XQuery/XPath 2.0.

A. Built-in Function Reference
B. Built-in Types
C. Error Summary

Best XQuery book available to date!.......2007-04-27

I've had this XQuery book for about a week now and it has already helped me immensely! Priscilla Walmsley (who was a member of the W3C XML Schema Working Group and I believe the XQuery Working Group as well) is an excellent writer and teacher. Her writing style is clear and concise, as anyone who read her earlier Definitive XML Schema book already knows.

"XQuery" is roughly 2/3 tutorial and 1/3 reference (by page counts). The tutorial material is thoughtfully divided into 25 bite-size chapters. The topics progress nicely from an overview and basics to important concepts such as namespace handlng, modules and static typing. The book includes 5 chapters that focus on handling specific data types (e.g, "Working with Strings"). You don't have to know XSLT but knowing XPath may be helpful. OTOH, XPath is covered in Chap. 4. There is even a chapter targeted at SQL users. I also appreciate the carefully chosen running example that is representative of many XML structures. The book also benefits from special icons indicating tips, gotchas, and compatibility issues. Longtime XML geek Simon St.Laurent was the O'Reilly editor, which is another big plus.

Walmsley has also created an incredibly useful reference site of XQuery functions, both those defined by the W3C specs and numerous others that she wrote. Others may contribute as well. [...]

I have several older XQuery books by various publishers but this book is by far the best. I highly recommend it to web developers, database developers, and data architects with even a modest XML background.

Average customer rating:

Do you want to learn to speak XQuery?
Good contents, bad binding
Concepts & Practical Programming
Excellent language introduction and reference
Good book and a fascinating topic

XQuery: The XML Query Language
Michael Brundage
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0321165810

Customer Reviews:

Do you want to learn to speak XQuery?.......2004-09-03

This is simply a great introduction to XQuery. In general this is a book rich on examples. I used this to test every other query, and gain a more thorough understand of the particular topic. The best way to learn a new language is to practice - right ?

Besides the examples bit, I think this is a well written book that explains the more academic content in straight forward manner. About half of the book is references, which has a lot of examples. My personal favorite section is the "Idioms" part of Chapter 10 that gives some clever solutions that I wouldn't have come up with myself.

Good contents, bad binding.......2004-09-01

This very good book gets only 1 star because of the poor quality of binding. A few months of (admittedly heavy) use is all it took for individual pages and whole sections to start falling out.
Otherwise, I generally agree with the previous review. It's a thorough introduction to the XQuery language with extensive reference and numerous examples. If it wasn't for the horrible production values I'd give it 5 stars.

Concepts & Practical Programming.......2004-06-29

Too many development books are slanted towards either concepts or practical, in-the-trenches development. This book manages to balance both by giving not only the what's and why's, but the how to's, and does so in a readable and highly credible manner.

The discussion about why Xquery instead of Xpath, XSLT or even direct access through another programming language shows both the strengths and some weaknesses of Xquery. This discussion extended into documents, databases, the state of the Xquery specification, and culminated in a essential types, and types you will not need. This is both conceptual and practical.

For the developer who wants to get up-to-speed with (or refine skills in) Xquery, this book goes deep into every facet, using concepts, concrete examples, and code. More importantly, the author's extensive experience is shown in Chapter 11, which covers problem areas and common points of confusion. This short chapter will prove invaluable to new developers. I also liked the chapter on query optimization, and the rich reference material in the appendices, which is almost half of this book.

If you want to learn Xquery, hone existing skills, or step back and see the big picture this book is the best one in my opinion. Expect in-depth technical information, and expect it to be provided by someone who understands developers and provides the code to make it real.

Excellent language introduction and reference.......2004-03-05

This is a well written introductory and reference work on XQuery. It's primarily an introductory work, the first 260 pages are introduction and the final 240 are a reference that is organized as an appendix.

The writing is solid, and it by no means panders to the reader, so you should be prepared to read over sections multiple times to completely understand the topic. I can't penalize the book for this because the topic is fairly complex.

On the downside there could be more in the way of real world examples in the text as they explain so of the more complex topics. It easier for the reader to retain the information if they knew why they would be using the language feature in the real world. In addition the book needs a section on existing tools and support for XQuery.

Strong chapters are chapters five and six which cut to the heart for the FLWOR expression syntax.

Overall this is a fine introductory work that could use some expansion and some more focused explanations.

Good book and a fascinating topic.......2004-02-29

Strong chapters are chapters five and six which cut to the heart for the FLWOR expression syntax.

Book Description

XQuery Kick Start delivers a concise introduction to the XQuery standard, and useful implementation advice for developers needing to put it into practice. The book starts by explaining the role of XQuery in the XML family of specifications, and its relationship with XPath. The authors then explain the specification in detail, describing the semantics and data model, before moving to examples using XQuery to manipulate XML databases and document storage systems. Later chapters discuss Java implementations of XQuery and development tools that facilitate the development of Web sites with XQuery. This book is up to date with the latest XQuery specifications, and includes coverage of new features for extending the XQuery language.

Download Description

As more developers use XML to store and define data in their applications, they need tools to process and manipulate it. XQuery is the official World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specification for an XML query language. The final version of XQuery is expected at the end of 2002, and developers will crave information and useful implementation advice about this new XML tool. Xquery Kick Start will deliver both - covering the full specification and providing useful examples for developers to put into practice immediately. The book starts by explaining the roll of XQuery in the XML family of specifications, and its very direct relationship to XPath. The author then explain the specification in detail, describing the semantics and data model, before moving to examples of XQuery's use in manipulating XML databases and document storage systems. Later chapters discuss the .NET and Java implementations of XQuery and discuss development tools that facilitate XQuery development.

Customer Reviews:

Poorly organized, random topics with little meat.......2004-06-28

I don't think I've read a computer book as poorly organized as this one. The basic premise seems to be present some random aspects of XQuery or related topics in a chapter and have no flow through the book.

There is a lot of good material in the book but try to find it - it's more or less impossible because the index is abysmal. There's no real introduction to how to use XQuery - instead we start off with XSLT. That may be OK (they are related) but it seemed a bit strange to me.

Another problem with the book is that some of it is out of date. The XQuery specification is a work in progress but the book was written after (and refers to) the final draft - but a lot of the examples are not compliant with that final draft.

The best thing that I can say about this book is that it forced me to research issues more deeply and therefore find out what I needed to know. I wouldn't buy this book - try to borrow it and see if it meets your needs.

XQuery.......2004-01-24

These guys put together a wonderful book; I've find it an ideal guide to solving pitfalls using XQuery. Having this book on my desktop help me in preventing potential problems with my code and saving countless hours of time tracking down issues that aren't initially apparent.

How to use XQuery.......2004-01-23

Many of the books on XQuery tell you how XQuery was created but not how to use it. This one is different and will help you hit the ground running. I recommend buying this book.

Essential XQuery.......2004-01-18

This book is about best practices, patterns and anti-patterns, and about how to use XML and XQuery correctly and efficiently. It will be useful to a professional with any level of experience. It may be used as a tutorial and read from the cover to cover, or one can enjoy reading selected items, depending on the experience and taste. The book's very detailed index makes it an excellent reference on the subject as well.

Database Programming Languages: 11th International Symposium, DBPL 2007, Vienna, Austria, September 23-24, 2007, Revised Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

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Database Programming Languages: 11th International Symposium, DBPL 2007, Vienna, Austria, September 23-24, 2007, Revised Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Databases | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 3540759867

Book Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Database Programming Languages, DBPL 2007, held in Vienna, Austria, in September 2007 in conjunction with VLDB 2007.

The 16 revised full papers presented together with 1 invited lecture were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement from 41 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on algorithms, XML query languages, inconsistency handling, data provenance, emerging data models, and type checking.

Querying XML with XQuery (Advances in Database Systems)

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Querying XML with XQuery (Advances in Database Systems)
Ioana Manolescu , and Yannis Papakonstantinou
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Databases | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0387269339

Book Description

Querying XML with XQuery introduces the new standard, W3C XQuery Recommendation. XQuery emerges as the de-facto XML query language that will deliver the promise of XML in the application integration and data integration fields. Simple complete examples introduce the essentials of XQuery to enable the reader to grasp its essence. The authors present complete cases with the use of XQuery in application integration and information integration deployments. This book also provides a crucial discussion of advanced topics of the language.

Querying XML with XQuery is designed for XML, database and Java developers, as well as advanced-level students in computer science.

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