Re: [xml] [Proposal] How about write a book for LibXML2?

From: "Elvis Stansvik" <elvstone gmail com>
To: veillard redhat com
Cc: libxml2 <xml gnome org>
Subject: Re: [xml] [Proposal] How about write a book for LibXML2?
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:02:03 +0100

2008/11/11 Elvis Stansvik <elvstone gmail com>:

2008/11/8 Elvis Stansvik <elvstone gmail com>:

2008/11/7 Elvis Stansvik <elvstone gmail com>:

2008/11/7 Daniel Veillard <veillard redhat com>:

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 09:25:55AM +0800, Yang Songxiang-a22301 wrote:

Hi, all,

I used the libxml2 package recently, found it's a perfect XML parser.
The example codes/document are good for a newcomer to use the LibXML2,
but they lack of enough detail information. I had to dig into the
sources code if I want more furthermore details. I think we can write a
bible book, give a complete introduction for LibXML2 package, not only
it's calling convention, but also including it's design framework.


 I had been approached a few years ago about writing a libxml2 book,
but it's a lot of work, I didn't had the time (and not much more now)
and it was made relatively clear that financially that may not be very
interesting.
 I don't have much time, so when i have some for libxml2 I prefer to
focuse on bugs or improvements that other contributors are less likely
to provide.

My draft idea:
1) Generate a DocBook framework,
2) Anyone can select a chapter that he/she interested.
3) Organize all chapters into a complete LibXML2 bible book.


I think this would help a lot for many C/C++ programmers who're the
first time using LibXML2, and would make LibXML2 more popular in C/C++
domain. Maybe the book can be published by O.Reilly if it's good enough.
:)

What's your opinions?


 Sounds better than a wiki in my opinion, I'm fine adding this to CVS
and integrating patches to the docs as they come.


I think personally a wiki would be better, and then content could be
taken from that and integrated into a more "official" DocBook in CVS.
I heard you had tried setting up a wiki some years ago but had
problems with SPAM, but surely that's a problem that can be solved?
E.g. by only allowing e-mail confirmed registered users. Anything else
that speaks against a wiki? It would be easier to contribute, and
easier to make small fixes with less maintenance than sending patches,
IMHO.


Just to throw something out there, I sketched out a preliminary layout
that could be used (and of course improved upon) as a skeleton for a
DocBook or Wiki:


I have now taken the liberty and set up a MediaWiki installation and
started adding some content. It's available at:

http://libxml2wiki.dose.se

I'm blocking search engine robots in robots.txt at the moment.

As you can see I've styled the wiki to look similar to xmlsoft.org. If
you want the regular MonoBook skin, just change it in the preferences.

I have started to reconsider the structure of the main content (yet to
be written). Maybe it should be more task oriented and not sectioned
by the different APIs?

I also added created a tag extension so you can use e.g.
<api>xmlNode</api> and it will turn into a link to the libxml2 API
documentation. This extension uses information from the
libxml2-api.xml generated from libxml2 2.7.2 at the moment. I'm also
planning on patching the syntax highlighting extension I'm using to
automatically identify libxml2 symbols within <source /> tags and turn
them into API documentation links.


This has now been added, libxml2 API symbols used inside <source />
are now automatically turned into links to the API documentation.

Elvis


If anyone feel like helping out, just register and edit away! A simple
thing is to add installation instructions for your platform, as I've
only added it for the platforms I'm familar with.

Hope to get some response on this!

Daniel, what is xmlsoft.org running on? Would you consider again
making a wiki.xmlsoft.org for this? I'd be willing to maintain the
MediaWiki installation and handle security updates to it, as well as
combat any SPAM problems that might arise. The server I'm running this
on now is on a dynamic IP DSL line in Sweden, which is not really
optimal.

Regards,
Elvis


The libxml2 Library

Introduction
 History
 What is libxml2?
 What libxml2 Is Not
 libxml2 Architecture

Getting started
 Installing libxml2
   Binaries
     Linux
       Ubuntu / Debian
       OpenSUSE
       Fedora
       Gentoo
     FreeBSD
     OpenBSD
     Windows
     MacOS X
   Building from source
     Download libxml2
       Stable Version
       Subversion
     Configure Options
     Building
       Linux / BSD
       Windows
       MacOS X
 Quick Start
   Hello World
   Building Your Program

The libxml2 APIs
 Choosing the Right API
 The Tree API
   Introduction
   Basic Example
   Complex Example
   Common Problems
 The Reader API
   Introduction
   Basic Example
   Complex Example
   Common Problems
 The SAX2 API
   Introduction
   Basic Example
   Complex Example
   Common Problems
 The HTML API
   Introduction
   Basic Example
   Complex Example
   Common Problems
 XPath API
   Introduction
   Basic Example
   Complex Example
   Common Problems
 XPointer API
   Introduction
   Basic Example
   Complex Example
   Common Problems
 XInclude API
   Introduction
   Basic Example
   Complex Example
   Common Problems
 Utility APIs
   String Handling
   HTTP / FTP
   XML and SGML Catalogs
   String Dictionaries
   Hash Tables
 Putting It All Together
   (Some more complex "task oriented" examples exercising
    the various APIs and using XML found in the wild)

Validation
 Introduction
 DTDs
 XML Schemas
 RelaxNG
 Schematron

Namespaces
 Introduction
 Basic Example
 Complex Example
 Common Problems

Error Handling
 Introduction
 Basic Example
 Complex Example
 Common Problems

Threads
 Introduction
 Thread Safety
 Basic Example
 Complex Example
 Common Problems

Language Bindings
 Perl
 PHP
 Python
 Ruby

Appendix
 A See Also
 B Acknowledgements

As you can see the sections for the various APIs are pretty sparse and
repetitive, with just an introduction to each API along with some
examples, the idea being that the current examples on xmlsoft.org can
be taken and improved upon, and as people (hopefully) contribute more
hands on and anecdotal information, those sections could be fleshed
out.

Any comments? I've probably left something out.

Are you dead against giving a wiki a try again Daniel? Even a
"registration required" one? If so, I could arrange this skeleton into
a DocBook XML instead and send it over.

Regards,
Elvis

 Best Regards
-Scord

Motorola Software Center
[x] Public
[ ] Internal
[ ] Motorola Confidential Restricted


 Heh, finally a smart non threatening way to label expected recipient
for mails issued by a corporation. Nice !


Yea I jumped at that too! Finally! :)

Regards,
Elvis


Daniel

--
Daniel Veillard      | libxml Gnome XML XSLT toolkit  http://xmlsoft.org/
daniel veillard com  | Rpmfind RPM search engine http://rpmfind.net/
http://veillard.com/ | virtualization library  http://libvirt.org/
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References:
- Re: [xml] [Proposal] How about write a book for LibXML2?
  - From: Daniel Veillard
- Re: [xml] [Proposal] How about write a book for LibXML2?
  - From: Elvis Stansvik
- Re: [xml] [Proposal] How about write a book for LibXML2?
  - From: Elvis Stansvik
- Re: [xml] [Proposal] How about write a book for LibXML2?
  - From: Elvis Stansvik

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