RSS/Atom have become the most popular technologies for letting a web site share it's new stuff with other applications. It's basically a set of standardized XML commands that allow other systems out there to pick up your new stuff and spread the word that it's available.

At it's simplest, RSS is only a handful of commands that allow you to publish a feed. But this is the computer business and it seems that we strive to make it more complex.

RSS split into two factions, both of them rightfully claiming that their way is right -- if you need what their way offers. (At the simple level, they are compatible.)

Tired of the unwillingness to compromise a third group has created Atom, a different set of XML commands to essentially do the same things. Totally different of course.

One thing this book does is very clearly explain the differences in these various versions and the history about why/how they came about, and a little about where they might be going.

At least a third of the book then goes into the other side of RSS, which is how to read an RSS Feed. His examples are given in Perl. I don't use perl, but the important part of the examples are simply that they can be done, i.e. getting Doonesbury automatically every morning or tracking a FedEx package.

As with most O'Reilly books, this is the definitive book on the subject, written by a professional programmer for professional programmers. It's all you need on the subject.

This is a useful little book; the whole main content is around 200 pages and the author's pleasant writing style makes it really easy to read in a day or two. The amount of pages isn't huge but, in my opinion, provides an effective coverage of RSS. Most code listings use Perl, making them useless for people (like me) using other languages but this doesn't really affect the book too much, since the goal isn't to provide a collection of coding recipes. This new edition doesn't cover RSS 0.9x anymore but has a nice chapter on Atom

Both individuals who know what RSS/Atom feeds are but need information on how to develop and implement them, as well as intermediate users already publishing a feed and looking for more progressive information, will find value in this title. Advanced users will most likely not find anything they don't already know. Covering RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0 and Atom .05, readers are walked thru the basics and intermediate concepts of implementation starting with a general background history, end-user reader requirements and options, and syntax usage for each version. The book then concludes with more intensive topics, such as usage of industry standard RSS modules, development of custom RSS modules, syndication thru services or direct publication, as well as third-party utility scripts and resources.

A few items set this title apart. First, the author has not dedicated this only to those who wish to perform serious syndication. Time is spent both showing how anyone regardless of skill level can publish a feed without programming, and teaching them how to use various styles of feed readers and the etiquette behind subscribing. For those who wish to go beyond basic feed development, the author dedicates entire chapters to things such as RSS modules (by RSS version), programmatically developed feeds, creating feeds which self-publish data from other web sites or databases, and publishing your feed for various platforms. Readers should be aware that the majority of scripts presented within the title are in Perl or PHP, and either a working knowledge of those languages or of any scriptable language will be needed if you intend to go beyond the beginning / intermediate level; not having this knowledge does not detract from the overall value of the book.

This title shows that RSS/Atom feeds are not just for the minority any more. Complete chapters are dedicated to all three formats, presenting all material in and easy to read and understand format without wasting your time with fluff or thinly disguised plugs for 3rd party products. This is a good general guide that will maintain value after your initial read.

Publishing on the Internet is evolving. I picked this book up to learn the tools and practices necessary to develop content feeds for websites. RSS and Atom are the foundation of this technology.

The first three small chapters cover the history and evolution of the syndication formats. While Atom is included in the title, it is definitely a second class citizen in this book. The author explains that this is due to the immaturity of the specification. Developers looking for in-depth code examples of using and creating Atom feeds will be disappointed. It is mentioned that later editions of the book will cover this emerging format.

For those Perl mongers, you will appreciate the significant use of Perl in the examples. While this was not particularly attractive to me, the author does provide fairly straightforward illustrations that are not too difficult to understand and implement in the language of your choice. That being said, I believe that non-Perl initiated persons will most likely be "Googling" a bit. There are a few samples in PHP that are included as well.

The book does describe many unconventional uses for RSS as well. My favorite gem is a reference to Halo 2 gaming statistics that are available via a RSS 2.0 feed. The author also provides the link to an Excel workbook, created by a Microsoft program manager, which records, charts, and analyzes the game results data.

Overall, I liked this book. This book is targeted to developers, and it provided me with the information that I was looking for to add content syndication to my web applications. While there is good coverage of the RSS and Atom formats, I do feel that I will be looking for another text to provide some additional guidance on the practical patterns for implementation.

I got an opportunity to review another RSS/Atom title called Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom by Ben Hammersley (O'Reilly). This is a pretty focused title targeted for developers.

Chapter List: Introduction; Using Feeds; Feeds Without Programming; RSS 2.0; RSS 1.0; RSS 1.0 Modules; The Atom Syndication Format; Parsing and Using Feeds; Feeds in the Wild; Unconventional Feeds; Developing New Modules; The XML You Need for RSS; Useful Sites and Software; Index

The author spends just a little time talking about the whys of RSS/Atom feeds and then dives into the guts of each of the specifications. For the developer looking to learn how to develop a syndicated feed, this focus will probably be highly appreciated. Another interesting part of the book is explanations of the politics behind the three main standards (RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom). Unlike most naming standards, RSS 2.0 isn't an update of RSS 1.0, and Atom is a third beast that must be accounted for. When you read the history of how each one came into being, it makes a bit more sense as to how we got into this position. Doesn't make it any easier to accommodate things, but at least you can understand it.

From a programming perspective, most of the code is done in Perl with a smattering of Ruby and PHP mixed in. I personally would have liked to see a bit more attention paid to Java, but I guess you can't have everything. You can at least use the programs to get ideas on potential solutions even if you don't use/know Perl.

Overall, a good treatment of an important technology in today's internet environment, and a book that will be useful as you start to add syndication into your applications.

Blogs have become huge lately. And in related ways, so too has the idea of a parseable news feed. To try and enable all this, the book explains RSS and Atom. It's directed towards programmers working on a web site.

It is an awkward book to read, as it describes the RSS versions 1 and 2. Unlike other standards or software packages, where a version 2 supersedes version 1, here the RSS versions compete with each other! Yes, they are similar. But not quite. It is this dissimilarity that will give you heartburn. Hammersley explains that in general, when you connect up to an RSS feed, you can't tell which version it supports. So you have to grunge your code to support both. Grr!!

Worse, as he continues to explain, sometimes a newsfeed is not fully compliant with either version. Due to a combination of poor programming by that supplier and ambiguities in the interpretations of the RSS versions. Plus it gets "better". Some feeds are not even valid XML. Yuk! So you have to decide who liberal your parser should be. Analogous to the poorly formed HTML pages out there on the web, and the subsequent decisions by browsers as to how tolerant they should be of these.

Hammersley has done a decent job explaining RSS. It's just a miserable subject to code.