As an experienced developer, I had a need to get into schemas deep and fast. I bought a series of books on schemas, and never managed to get more than simple schemas working.
With this book, it all changed. This book teaches you the complicated subject of schemas. It covers regular expressions with examples. It describes pitfalls you *will* run into, and your options how to deal with them. You'll find out why schemas can be so cranky and frustrating sometimes.
It's not a tutorial. There are some simple tutorial books you might try before this one, if you want to get used to writing the syntax and such. But those books won't stand up, when you really start controlling XML with schemas.
The book is complicated to read. The sentences are long and sometimes twisted. I've found they're often necessarily so. The author is careful with his words, and schemas aren't that easy.
Two caveats: The book sometimes tells you about snags in subtle ways that you might not notice, 'til you actually slam headlong into them. And there's the occasional issue in the errata, typical for a new book on so complicated a subject.
But to me, that's minor. The book covers a tough subject in detail, and it gives me information that helps me solve problems. That makes it the first book I reach for when I have problems with a schema.
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