Facebook Application Development

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Speaking at the Facebook Bay Area May Meetup

This afternoon I'll be speaking briefly at the Facebook Bay Area May Meetup. I'll be answering some questions about the book and giving away a few copies. The meetup starts at 6:30 and is taking place at 2000 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA.

Updated (5/21/2008)

I'll be updating this post with some of the questions asked at the meetup.

• Q: Does it cover any Facebook to Open Social integration?

  A: No, at the time Open Social far to under-developed to write about.

• Q: Is the code in the book open source? Can I use it in my applications?

  A: The source code of the projects and snippets used in the book falls under the license and permissions as described on the Wrox Download Code FAQ page of the Wrox website. Basically you can use the code in your commercial or non-commercial projects but an acknowledgement must be given. It also states that the code and content may not be redistributed.

My first copy

The 28th of April came up awful quickly. Today I received the first copy of my book in the mail as I walked into the house from the office. I can't tell you how excited I am to finally see and hold a copy in my hands. Now that the release date is drawing near, I'll be working hard to prepare for its arrival.

Your questions answered

Q: Do you work for Facebook?

No, at the time this book was being written and published I did not work for Facebook.

Q: I've already developed a Facebook application. Should I bother reading this book?

Yes! This book serves as an introduction to the Facebook Platform for the uninitiated as well as a guide for those who have worked in it before. Its broken into three major areas that tie into each other to as beginner, intermediate and advanced sections.

Q: How does the book handle the constant evolution of the Facebook Platform?

Writing a book about the Facebook Platform and developing applications for it was not easy. Throughout the creation of this book, there were frequent changes made to the Facebook Platform, and changes were constantly being made to important sections of the publication. Several chapters had to be entirely rewritten as the platform evolved.

As the final deadline approached, I decided to set a hard date that would prevent any new features introduced after that date from being included in the book. The cut-off time was around late November and early December.

Q: How does the book handle subject matter that is no longer valid?

While it is true that some of the API methods and FBML entities discussed and demonstrated in the book are already out of date and can't be used in active Facebook application development, the overwhelming majority of the books content is perfectly usable.

One of the reasons this blog was put together was to create a place where updates and changes to the Facebook Platform that alter the functionality of the book and its projects could be documented and noted. This website will provide references to updated project files and content to account for these changes.

Q: What programming languages and systems are used?

This book focuses on Facebook application development in PHP using LAMP. All of the example projects are written in PHP and use the official PHP client library provided by the Facebook Platform team. The SQL schema and queries used were used in MySQL 5.1.

Q: I write Perl/Ruby/Java/Erlang/C++/etc, what will I get out of it?

The methods, practices and examples used throughout the book are language agnostic and can be applied in whatever language or environment you work in.

Pre-Release Questions

Before the book hits the shelves I'm opening up the floor to questions and comments from developers and readers. If there is something you would like to know about the book and what it covers you can post a reply to this post or send me a message through Facebook[1].

[1] I'm easy to find, just search for my name.