On Thursday 06 December 2007, Jason Elbaum wrote: > I don't know much about XML beyond the basics, but I'd like to be able > to read some relatively small XML files and extract elements of the > contents. (I'm still working out what to do with them next. Maybe > build a database.) > > What's the simplest way to do that? Just about everything XML-related > I find on the web starts with chapters full of definitions, > specifications and acronyms. There must be a better way. > > I don't need to write XML files, or to validate them, or to edit them. > Though browsing them and pretty-printing them may come in handy. > > (If it's not Perlish, I don't mind. Whichever language does it best.) >
Here's how I learned what I know of XML: 1. I first read http://www.xml.com/pub/a/98/10/guide0.html which explained the motivation for XML and its structure. 2. I read an XML::LibXML introduction (it may have been http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/11/14/xml-libxml.html ) and since then have been happily using XML::LibXML. 3. I read the "Perl and XML" book - http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/perlxml/ - which is short. Through this book I learned what XPath is about, and other stuff. It's a short book and is available from the Mongers' library. (I suppose you can also learn XPath from the zvon.org tutorial). 4. I learned XSLT from http://www.w3schools.com/xsl/ and http://www.zvon.org/xxl/XSLTutorial/Books/Book1/index.html . 5. I also learned about DTD's and how to use them. =================== This is for Perl. If you want to learn XML mangling in other programming languages, it may vary somewhat, although the DOM, SAX and XPath APIs are standarised. I personally avoid XML::Evil ^W XML::Evil like the plague and try to use XML::LibXML (or XML::Parser for legacy code that I have to maintain) for everything. Regards, Shlomi Fish --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shlomi Fish [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.shlomifish.org/ I'm not an actor - I just play one on T.V. _______________________________________________ Perl mailing list [email protected] http://perl.org.il/mailman/listinfo/perl
