Pro PHP XML and Web Services

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1. Henrietta January 2, 2010 12:00 pm

   This is first and foremost an XML reference. The author takes the reader through over 100 pages XML background in the first three chapters, then an overview of a few utilities like XPath and XPointer before he touches on PHP. Having provided some grounding in the basics, he then proceeds to develop the use of XML in PHP from the basic topics of DOM (Document Object Model) and XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) to the more advanced topics of SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and web services. Along the way Richards introduces the reader to utility classes like SimpleXML, SAX (Simple API for XML), XMLReader. He also touches on PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository) utility classes and topics like security, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration). The author’s examples are reasonably concise and readable; making the necessary points without getting carried away. The bottom line is that this is a highly effective reference (that means fairly comprehensive, but dry reading; I read cover to cover, but it was relatively tedious) on XML and its varied uses in association with PHP. This is not a book for the newcomer to programming, nor is it a cookbook for examples for the casual programmer/web developer, although the author does provide PEAR examples for connecting with major web services like Amazon, Google and Yahoo (among others). My suggestion for readers is to review what you need of the first 11-12 chapters to ensure a firm grounding in XML, and then hop to the chapters specific to the problem being faced. P-)

2. Kevork January 2, 2010 1:13 pm

   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. “ 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.

3. Hummer January 2, 2010 1:58 pm

   This book is amazingly well written. The content is organized in an intuitive and logical fashion. The author explains base concepts and progresses into advanced topics, providing consistent depth of coverage along the way. The author’s writing and concise examples get the message across on the first reading – unlike some texts that require multiple passes. It’s also noteworthy that the Technical Reviewers, Christian Stocker and Adam Trachtenberg, are renowned PHP experts and authors. If you plan to study or work with PHP and XML, this book is a MUST HAVE.