XPath is to XML as SQL is to databases: XML applications need XPath to locate specific data within an XML document for further processing with other XML applications such as XSLT, XQuery, XPointer, XLink and DOM level 3. With XPath, these applications offer developers a full toolkit for transforming, linking, and searching XML data. Developers need to understand XPath to fully exploit XML in their applications, and they have few resources beyond the W3C specification. XPath Kick Start will examine every aspect of XPath in detail, including its influence on and use with these other XML standards.
With each technique illustrated with real-world examples, the book starts with coverage of the essentials of XPath, including nodes, expressions, functions and operators. The second half of the book details XPath in practice - from manipulating XML data to transforming, linking and querying XML documents.
Steven Holzner has been writing about XML topics like XPath as long as XML has been around. He's written several XML bestsellers, and his books have been translated into 16 languages around the world. He's been on the faculty of both Cornell University and MIT, and teaches corporate programming classes around the country. Dr. Holzner has written over 80 computer books and has been a contributing editor of PC Magazine.