Customer Reviews

Facebook Application Development For Dummies

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The problem with FB development books is that the FB API changes all the time. To such an extent as you need the very latest book to keep up. This book, at the time of writing, was as up-to-date as possible.

What I will say though is that it's a technical book. You'll need a good understanding of all things web based (HTML, Javascript) to keep up. It's not long before you're in the thick of it.

I think the fact it's a 'for dummies' book does it a massive disservice. When my wife saw it she said "urgh, you've bought a kids book?"...which is the general feeling. Ignore the cover, it's a great book that gets nice a technical for a geek like me.

At the time of writing (July 2011) this book was the only one that covered the latest Facebook API, all of the other books seemed obsolete as they covered a programming model that had been abandoned by Facebook.

After trying to build a Facebook application and working through Facebook's own documentation I was left with more questions that answers. Their own documentation is in disarray and lacks examples or tutorials. Perhaps that will be fixed but it is currently a painful situation for developers. This book was the answer for me. It lays out clearly the many and varied aspects of developing for Facebook, from simple "Pages" through to more complex applications using OAuth and the Graph API.

The title is somewhat misleading though, it is not for dummies, it is a very useful primer / reference for experienced developers (this is what Facebook's own documentation should be like). It could well be difficult in places for non developers however, not impossible, but non trivial.

The book is well written, comprehensive and has many code examples and application tutorials. If you have it by your side while developing an application it will pay for itself in a day.

I've found this book very helpful. I was finding Facebook app development very confusing, after reading the online documentation. This book explains the concepts well - it's still complex, but I don't feel totally baffled now!

It goes from the very basics of how to set up an app on Facebook, and covers the new Graph API, OAuth etc. It's clear and concise; not patronising or overly complicated. There are lots of links to online information - it's in the nature of this kind of book that it will become outdated in time, but the author provides links to places online which are kept updated.

You would need to understand programming to some extent before reading this - it's not a book for someone who has never coded before. But as long as you have the basics of, say, PHP and javascript, it makes sense. It's probably also helpful to read it with a specific application in mind - a lot of the examples are best understood by trying them out!

Overall, definitely worth buying.