Re: [xsl] Looking for a great tutorial on xsl...

["G. Ken Holman" <gkholman at CraneSoftwrights dot com>]

At 2002-02-27 11:45 -0800, Alexander Boynton wrote:
>I am not a programmer and would like to understand XSL.

XSLT is a templating language and need not be regarded as a programming 
language.  Your objective using XSLT is to give the processor enough 
examples (templates) of what belongs in the result so the processor can 
assemble the result from a combination of your source file and your examples.

>Could
>someone here recommend a site or book or any information that will help me?

The following two electronically published books each have free preview 
excerpts of the entire content of their respective first two chapters that 
can be downloaded without charge or registration of any kind from our web 
site noted in my trailer below:

   Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath
   (XSL Transformations and the XML Path Language)
   Tenth Edition - 2001-12-06 - ISBN 1-894049-08-X
   Copyright (c) 2001 Crane Softwrights Ltd.
   / 394 Pages / Subscription price includes free updates,
   /           / soft-copy of all included examples, and an
   /           / accessible rendition and 10 PDF renditions.
   /           / Free 140-page download preview excerpt.

   Practical Formatting Using XSLFO
   (Extensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects)
   First Edition - 2001-12-05 - ISBN 1-894049-07-1
   Copyright (c) 2001 Crane Softwrights Ltd.
   / 341 Pages / Subscription price includes free updates,
   /           / soft-copy of all included examples, and an
   /           / accessible rendition and 10 PDF renditions.
   /           / Free 179-page download preview excerpt.

The following is a paper rendition of the above XSLT/XPath book (this 
doesn't come with the perpetual free updates):

   Definitive XSLT and XPath
   First Edition - 2001-12-10 - ISBN 0-13-065196-6
   Copyright (c) 2002 Crane Softwrights Ltd.
   Prentice Hall PTR - 393 pages
   (a print-only rendition of the Ninth Edition of
    Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath;
    this does not qualify for free electronic updates)
   http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/links/dxx-info.htm
   Sample: http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/links/dxx-sample.htm

I see you are based at UBC ... you can probably find the paper book at a 
local Chapters ... they all are stocking it here in Ottawa.  But don't 
forget the corner bookstore either ... we've just lost a local bookstore 
here because of the big chains.

>Things that I have done:
>
>Taken courses in XML

Should be all you need to get started!

.................. Ken


--
Upcoming: 3-days XSLT/XPath and/or 2-days XSLFO: June 17-21, 2002
-       : 3-days XML Information Modeling: July 31-August 2, 2002

G. Ken Holman                mailto:gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com
Crane Softwrights Ltd.         http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/s/
Box 266, Kars, Ontario CANADA K0A-2E0 +1(613)489-0999 (Fax:-0995)
ISBN 0-13-065196-6                        Definitive XSLT & XPath
ISBN 1-894049-08-X  Practical Transformation Using XSLT and XPath
ISBN 1-894049-07-1               Practical Formatting Using XSLFO
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