The target [] is the current entry itself.
The author did
\xymatrix{
 {\bullet} \ar@{--}[d]\ar@{=}[dr]\ar@{-}[r]
           & {\bullet} \ar@{.}[d] \\
 {\bullet} & {\bullet} \ar[l] } has been enclosed in
 has been enclosed in {} since it is an "expandable" entity, i.e., a defined macro.
The author used
\xymatrix{
 A \ar[r]^f \ar[dr]_{f;g}
  & B \ar[d]^g \ar[dr]^{g;h} \\
  & C \ar[r]_h & D           }The author entered
\xymatrix{
 A \ar[d]_f \ar[r]^f
            & B \ar[dl]|{i_B} \ar[d]^g \\
 B \ar[r]_g & C }The author did
\xymatrix{
 x \ar@(ul,dl)[]|{id} \ar@/^/[rr]|f
 && f(x) \ar@/^/[ll]|{f^{-1}} }The author used the display
\xymatrix{
 1 \ar[rr] ^-{1000000x}
   \ar[dr] _(.2){2000x} |!{[d];[rr]}\hole
                        && 1000000 \\
 1000 \ar[r] _{2x}
      \ar[urr] _>>>>{x^2}
                        & 2000 }The author typed
\xymatrix@1{ A \ar[r]^*+[o][F-]{x} & B }The author did
\xymatrix@1{
 A \ar @{/*\composite{{+}*{\times}}/} [rr]
       ^*+\txt{High\\label}
 && B}The author entered
\xymatrix{
 A \ar @/^/ @{^{<}-_{>}} [r]
   \ar @/_/ @{{*}{x}{*}} [r] & B }The author typed
\xymatrix@1{
 A \ar@/^/[r] \ar@/^/@<-1ex>[r] & B }
The size: t+0 always has zero size.
The author constructed
\xymatrix@!0{
 & \lambda\omega \ar@{-}[rr]\ar@{-}'[d][dd]
   & & \lambda C \ar@{-}[dd]
\\
 \lambda2 \ar@{-}[ur]\ar@{-}[rr]\ar@{-}[dd]
 & & \lambda P2 \ar@{-}[ur]\ar@{-}[dd]
\\
 & \lambda\underline\omega \ar@{-}'[r][rr]
   & & \lambda P\underline\omega
\\
 \lambda{\to} \ar@{-}[rr]\ar@{-}[ur]
 & & \lambda P \ar@{-}[ur]
}@! forces rows and columns to be equally spaced as discussed in section 3.3; @!0 furthermore makes the spacing ignore the entry sizes, giving a completely fixed grid. The gaps could also be made with the !... crossing notation of exercise 6 last in section 2.1 but the above is shorter.
The author typed
\xymatrix@1{
 A \ar@<-2pt> `d[r] `[r] [r]
   \ar@<+2pt> `d[r] `[r] [r] & B }The author used
\newdir{ >}{{}*!/-5pt/@{>}}The author typed
\xymatrix@1{
 A \ar[r] |-{\SelectTips{cm}{}\object@{>>}}
          |>{\SelectTips{eu}{}\object@{>}}
 & B }The author typed
\xymatrix{
 *=0{\bullet}
 \ar@/^/[dr]!U|1
 \ar@/^/[drr]!U|2
 \ar@/^/[drrr]!U|3
\\
 &*+[F]\txt{x}
 &*+[F]\txt{x\\x}
 &*+[F]\txt{x\\x\\x}
}The author entered the display
\xymatrix@dr@C=1pc{
 a \ar[r]\ar@{->>}[d] & a' \ar@{.>>}[d] \\
 b \ar@{.>>}[r]       & b' }The author typed
\xymatrix{
 A \ar[r] ^a="a" & B \ar[r] ^b="b" & C
  \ar @/^/ "a";"b" }The author added the Xy-code
\save [].[dd].[ddrr].[rr]*[F.]\frm{}="back"
 \restore , and
, and
 \save [].[dd].[ddrr].[rr]*[F.]\frm{}
  \ar@{.} +UL;"back"+UL \ar@{.} +UR;"back"+UR
  \ar@{.} +DL;"back"+DL \ar@{.} +DR;"back"+DR
  \restore to produce
 to produce
