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Is the right book for you?
This book serves three groups of readers well: those who simply want to know about XQuery, those who are implementing XQuery functionality within their applications and those who are wondering how XQuery will impact what they already know how to do.
For the first group of potential readers, I doubt you'll find a book that better explains what ideas were essential in the design of the language, how it evolved to where it is at today and why it does what it does. There isn't a chapter in this book that isn't applicable to what you'll want to know and every essential landmark is set out for you. Don't expect this book to be a tutorial on how to use XQuery - we're likely too far away from a consistent standard for that. Do, however, expect to learn what XQuery is, why it's the way it is and where it fits in your bag of tricks. People in this group will especially like chapters two and three.
The second group of potential readers are probably either thinking about adding XQuery functionality to some sort of Database Management System or design or develop applications what use such systems. For you, I think this book is an excellent primer to read before reading the XQuery specification and before you start to get your hands dirty. Chapters four through seven will give you lots of things to ponder and insight into making good decisions early.
Personally, I mostly belong in the last group of potential readers - those who are wondering what XQuery means to them in the day-to-day, hand-to-hand combat of designing and developing end user applications. Is this a book you'll probably want? I think so. The first chapter does a good job of covering just enough of the language to get you going, and chapters three, and six, seven and eight will help you understand when, where and how XQuery needs to become part of your toolkit. I think this is especially true for those of us who make heavy use of Microsoft's .NET technologies and SQL Server products. As you likely already know, the next generation of these products are very much embracing XML within the database. Chapters six and seven offer an especially good view of where we're at today and where we're likely to be within the next year-and-a-half or so. I'd especially recommend this book for you.
Some things worth noting: chapter three is especially helpful for understanding the similarities and differences between XQuery, XPath and XSLT. To really understand where XQuery fits, you must understand this interrelationship Not only does Mr. Kay do a great job explaining that, he actually makes it fun to read. Similarly, if you are eager to discover what SQL Server "Yukon" might be like, then chapter seven contributed by Microsoft's own Michael Rys definitely seems to frame a map for you. On the downside however, this book does suffer from trying to be too many things to too many people. Although well written and interesting, chapters four and five essentially provide a Rosetta Stone to reading the XQuery specifications. If you're just looking for the basics of XQuery, you can likely safely save these reading chapters for some other time and place. Finally, if you're looking for a book that simply covers how to write XQueries, you can stop after chapter one. Chances are you will want to supplement this title with another book written to a more pedagogical theme.
Summary: a fantastic book for some, a good book for many.
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A masterpiece you can not afford to miss
This book is written to be accessible to novices and still very effective for experts.
It explains the rationale behind the XQuery language and describes how XML, XQuery, and relational databases work together.
Jonathan Robie does an excellent job in the introductory chapter with exquisite style using compact examples.
Michael Kay and his insuperable acknowledge outlines differences and commonalities between XSLT and XQuery.
I did not find one chapter I wish it wasn't there.
Suggested audience may vary from XML enthusiastic to data integration architects.
Ivan Pedruzzi
Stylus Studio Team