This is the best VoiceXML book I’ve seen.Most VoiceXML books try to do too much: talk about voice hardware, telephony, the history of voice, tts, as well as be a VoiceXML reference.The weakness of these books is that one or more of these sections reveals that the authors do not really command the knowledge needed to make these sections useful.This book also attempts to do these things, but for the most part is able to carry it off.
If you’re looking for a reference, this is the book to get.The reference section is current VoiceXML 2.0 (October 2001), which is an advantage in and of itself.But the real strength of the reference section is its depth.Each element, (e.g., <assign>, <grammar>, <filled>) has an entry for syntax (how to invoke the element), a description (what the element is used for), a thorough discussion of its attributes (that is, a description of the attribute), a usage statement (the elements parents and children), and an example (a snipet of complete code that uses the element).The examples and discussion of attributes really set this book apart from its peers.
There is a brief discussion of the architecture of a VoiceXML app, and a couple of paragraphs discussing the differences between VoiceXML 1.0 and 2.0.
The book also gives, contrary to my expectations, a history of the voice industry, a history of VoiceXML, and a discussion of players in the industry.What makes this book’s treatment of these topics unusual is that the authors (particularly Kunins, I suspect) actually know these fields.I don’t normally want these sections in a reference book (it just adds bulk around the section I really want) but I found them quite compelling here.I learned quite a bit from reading them.
The book also contains sections on Dynamic VoiceXML, Security, Voice App Life Cycle, VUI Design, the Future of VoiceXML, and a case study.I haven’t read these sections yet, so I can’t comment on them.I do know, however, that the sections I have read are sufficiently superior to make this THE VoiceXML book on their own.
If I were to criticize the book, I would fault the authors’ lavish praise of TellMe (this is minor and not unexpected) and the examples in the reference section.The examples are quite good for someone learning VoiceXML, and the authors are commended for including them.The fault (albeit a minor one) is that they are fairly vanilla.So, while I would have preferred more examples, I concede that such examples would make the book much larger and the inclusion of “advanced” examples to the exclusion of “canonical” examples would have made them less useful to developers learning VoiceXML.
Overall, if you are going to own one VoiceXML reference, THIS should be that one.
Product Description
Learn how to build voice-enabled applications using VoiceXML
VoiceXML is designed for creating human-computer dialogs that feature synthesized speech, digitized audio, recognition of spoken and key input, recording of spoken input, telephony, and mixed-initiative conversations. Providing a detailed look at this markup language, VoiceXML (Version 2.0 is covered) takes the reader from the basics of voice solutions all the way through to building and running an application. It also reviews the critical success factors when designing and implementing a voice strategy and provides a glimpse into the future of voice technologies. The authors include discussions on how to generate dynamic VoiceXML content as well as the design of compelling and effective voice user interfaces.
CD-ROM includes code from the book as well as development toolkits and reference material from multiple vendors.
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I have read lots of books about behavioral decision-making and behavioral finance. When Ibought the book I initally expected it being similar like many other books covering this subject. But while I was reading I justcould not stop, though I found many examples I knew already. But the styleof Bazerman’s writing attracted me (though English is not my motherlanguage) so much, that Istudied the book from the first to the lastpage.The examples of bounded rationality of many human decisions and its’sub-optimal’ if not sometimes costly results are very well explained. Thesolutions to improve the decision-making processes are presented veryclearly at the end of each chapter.
