Re: [xsl] Question about Michael Kay's book

[tcn at melvaig dot co dot uk (Trevor Nash)]

>I'm thinking of buying the book.  I'm wondering, from those who already have, 
>whether it has an MS tilt or is entirely OS agnostic.

As a reference to the XSLT language (and Xpath of course), you won't
beat it.  I bought both first and second editions, and will be near
the front of the queue for the third.
It not bad as a tutorial either - good introductory material and lots
of *useful* examples, without messing up on the primary aim of being a
reference work.  Rank beginners might need some extra help, depends on
your learning style.
The index?  The second edition is much better - adequate for the
purpose though I guess some folk can point out things that are
missing.  Not a reason to go elsewhere.
As to product info: excellent from the point of view of deciding which
products to take a closer look at.  When you *use* a particular
product, use the docs that come with it.  I use Saxon a lot, but have
never looked in the book for Saxon-specifics: its not what the book is
for.
IMO the trouble with product specific books is that they are at least
one of
 (a) out of date before they come of the press
 (b) put together in so much of a hurry they contain far to many
mistakes
 (c) a thinly disguised rehash of what comes with the product anyway
-- bad examples suffer from (b) also.

Buy!!

Regards,
Trevor Nash
--
Traditional training & distance learning,
Consultancy by email

Melvaig Software Engineering Limited
voice:     +44 (0) 1445 771 271 
email:     tcn@melvaig.co.uk

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