Product Description

• The wildly popular Facebook social networking platform has published an open Application Programming Interface (API) and developers are eating it up--60,000 signed up to use it in the first few days; with this API, any programmer can create applications and new features for Facebook
• Explores and explains the components available to programmers, including working with Facebook Markup Language (FBML), querying Facebook with FQL, application layout and flow, advanced configuration and performance tuning, and more
• Businesses such as NBC, Yahoo!, Red Bull, Forbes, and the Washington Post are building branded applications to reach the growing Facebook community

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #376540 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .80" h x 7.51" w x 9.22" l, 1.20 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 330 pages

Review
"This is a classic presentation that underlines its [Wrox] quality and standing in the computing world." (The Bookseller, Friday 14th March 2008)

From the Back Cover
Facebook Application Development

Developing Facebook applications requires a different way of thinking than traditional web site development. This book guides you step by step through the process, covering topics and theory that can be applied immediately. It also highlights the various challenges and possibilities that you may encounter as you create your own feature-rich Facebook applications.

The author begins with a look at the Facebook Platform and explores the Facebook application basics. Next, he provides you with an example application to demonstrate some of the introductory concepts. The core components of the Facebook Platform are also presented along with examples and common use cases. You'll then delve deeper into the Facebook Platform to learn how to extend and enhance the applications you've already built.

This book will help you complete several introductory projects and progress to more advanced concepts. It arms you with the tools and know-how to inject new features and content into the Facebook environment.

What you will learn from this book

• How to create, configure, and develop an application on the Facebook Platform

• Techniques for using Facebook API requests and responses as well as method definitions

• Tips for working with Facebook Markup Language (FBML)

• How to query Facebook using the Facebook Query Language (FQL)

• Methods for utilizing the community-supported wiki and bug-tracker

• How to integrate automated and scheduled tasks

• Strategies to develop customized features for your application

Who this book is for
This book is for programmers who are new to the Facebook Platform or who have had some experience with it and want to go further. You should have an understanding of basic web technologies as well as some web development experience.

Wrox guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think. Written by programmers for programmers, they provide a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.

About the Author
Nick Gerakines is a software engineer at Yahoo! in San Francisco, California where he works on del.icio.us and contributes to numerous other projects and Facebook applications. In addition, he has written several Facebook applications of his own, including the popular I Play WoW application. He is an active member of the Facebook developer community and writes frequently on the topic. He lives in Mountain View, California with his wife, Carolyn, and daughter, Vanessa.