New XML Courseware from Object Innovations

November 16, 2004. Object Innovations gladly announces a major new release of its popular Core XML curriculum. We have updated our XML, XSLT, and XML Schema courses with several goals in mind:

• Keep up with latest specifications from the W3C
• Reflect evolving best practices
• Improve the classroom working environment with better, simpler tools
• Extend coverage of intermediate and advanced topics in book and code

The results of this comprehensive effort are revisions to all three courses:

Course 501, "Introduction to XML," now introduces XML Schema along with DTDs as means of defining XML vocabularies. This reflects the broad adoption of XML Schema since the course was introduced. The course retains limited coverage of DTDs, as we believe they are still an excellent teaching tool, even as a way of making a transition to the more demanding XML Schema. The course also includes a broader and deeper range of hands-on exercises -- this is true of all of the Core XML revisions.

Course 516, "XSLT," has undergone the most sweeping changes. We've discovered that our previous two-day course didn't allow students enough time to absorb this challenging and unusual technology, and have also seen a demand for more intermediate and advanced topics. The new course covers more of those topics, including performance and debugging tips, XSLT extensions, and effective use of callable templates. Even so, it allows students to take more time right at the beginning, easing them into the fundamentals of XSLT and XPath and progressing methodically from there.

The course also now enjoys the company of a new set of XPath and XSLT tools, provided by Object Innovations just for this purpose. The XPath/XSLT Console application is a "mini-IDE" that makes it easy for students to pursue lab examples, demos and lab exercises in a single tabbed GUI that provides immediate feedback on their work:

Course 517, "XML Schema," is in turn the least changed of the three Core XML courses. It includes a few new examples that illustrate intermediate and unusual applications of XML Schema. It too has a new tool to support it: an XML validator application that can easily be configured for use with text editors and IDEs. Again, students get a more facile lab environment, and quicker, clearer feedback makes for a much more effective learning experience.

The updated courses are part of Object Innovations' comprehensive XML curriculum, which includes courses in XML programming using Java and .NET, as well as the Core XML courses. Stay tuned for OI's upcoming course on XSL-FO -- the standard technology for producing print and presentation documents from XML and for the new 4-day Course 414, "XML Programming Using C# and .NET" and Course 424, "XML Programming Using Visual Basic and .NET".

Shipment of the new courseware begins immediately.