Ronald Bourret

Consulting, writing, and research in XML and databases

Ronald Bourret is a consultant, writer, and researcher, specializing in how XML and databases work together. As a consultant, he focuses on the architectures of XML applications, as well as feature sets for XML / database tools. He has worked with a variety of clients, from Fortune 100 companies to small software firms to non-profits, and is a member of the XML Guild, a group of well-known XML consultants.

Ronald's writing includes XML and Databases, often considered the standard introduction to the subject, the XML Namespaces FAQ, and an IBM Redbook about XML support in DB2. He is best known for his technical market research, in which he maintains current descriptions of more than 180 XML / database products and more than 40 XML data binding products. He has also performed a comprehensive survey of how native XML databases are used in the real world.

Ronald is a frequent speaker at commercial and academic conferences, as well as user's groups and corporations. Topics include SQL/XML, XQuery, mapping XML to relational databases, native XML databases, and the role of XML in technical writing.

As time permits, Ronald writes Open Source software. His current projects are XML-DBMS, a set of Java packages for transferring data between XML documents and relational databases, and a Java-based DTD Parser.

Prior to his current work, Ronald taught a course at UC Berkeley, did academic research in the field of XML and databases at the Technical University of Darmstadt, and served as the lead technical writer for the ODBC and OLE DB specifications while a contractor at Microsoft. He has also written business, graphics, statistics, and scheduling software for a variety of companies.

News

Along with other members of the XML Guild, I've written a book called Advanced XML Applications. The book is aimed at people already proficient in XML who need expert-level advice and includes many real-world tips and tricks. Topics covered include authoring XML, XSL:FO, XSLT, XML namespaces, XML schemas, XML and databases, and XQuery. My coauthors include G. Ken Holman, Evan Lenz, Eric van der Vlist, Zarella Rendon, Nikita Ogievetsky, Jeni Tennison, Benoit Marchal, Anthony B. Coates, Michael Kay, and Betty Harvey.