BlackBerry Development Fundamentals [Paperback]

John M. Wargo (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321647424 | ISBN-13: 978-0321647429 | Publication Date: November 15, 2009 | Edition: 1

The BlackBerry smartphone is today’s #1 mobile platform for the enterprise and also a huge hit with consumers. Until now, it’s been difficult for programmers to find everything they need to begin developing new applications for BlackBerry devices. BlackBerry Development Fundamentals is the solution: the first single-source guide to all aspects of development for the BlackBerry platform.

 

This book thoroughly reviews the BlackBerry’s unique capabilities and limitations, helps you optimize your upfront design choices, and covers native rich-client applications and Web-based mobile applications for both business and consumer environments. In addition, it is an excellent study guide for the BlackBerry Certified Application Developer exam (BCX-810).

 

Coverage includes

• The “hows,” “whys,” and best practices of BlackBerry development
• Planning for and managing the BlackBerry platform’s restrictions
• Selecting the correct development platform for your BlackBerry applications
• Describing the different paths any application can take to get to the data it needs
• Explaining the capabilities provided by the BlackBerry Mobile Data System (MDS)
• Pushing application data to both enterprise and consumer BlackBerry devices using MDS, Web Signals, and the BlackBerry Push APIs
• Dealing with both the special capabilities and limitations of the BlackBerry browser
• Building, testing, and debugging BlackBerry browser applications
• Understanding the tools available to Java developers
• Using Research In Motion’s Java development tools to build, test, and debug BlackBerry Java applications
• Deploying BlackBerry Java applications

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Wargo has been a professional software developer, educator, consultant, and presenter for more than 20 years.

 

As a subject matter expert (SME) on BlackBerry development platform and tools at Research In Motion (RIM), John was responsible for supporting a large U.S.-based carrier and its customers. He worked with key customers to help them design and build applications for their BlackBerry environments. He also created and delivered BlackBerry application developer training in cities across the United States.

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (November 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321647424
• ISBN-13: 978-0321647429
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #324,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John M. Wargo has more than 20 years of experience designing and developing enterprise applications with a focus on collaboration and process automation. John has spent the last five years focusing on mobile development having worked for Research In Motion and authored BlackBerry Development Fundamentals (www.bbdevfundamentals.com) and a series of articles on mobile development for The View (www.eview.com).
He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, delivering sessions on mobile development and analysis of mobile industry trends. In his current role, he is a practice manager in AT&T's Advanced Mobile Applications Practice, specializing in mobile application platforms & frameworks and helping customers realize their mobile initiatives. John's personal blog can be found at www.johnwargo.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent BlackBerry Reference, November 30, 2009

By 

P. B. Duggirala (Fremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: BlackBerry Development Fundamentals (Paperback)

If you intend to develop BlackBerry apps, this is a great book. It doesn't teach you programming, it doesn't spoon feed you on how to create apps like some of the other iPhone books.

What it does provide is that it has all the relevant information you need to know about developing for the BlackBerry platform in one location. The author is clearly very knowledgeable.

I have developed apps for the BlackBerry platform since 2002. I only wish this book was available earlier. Highly recommended for both experienced and beginners. Just don't expect this to be a book that teaches programming or J2ME fundamentals.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You want to get this book!!!, January 8, 2010

By 

George J Paglia, M.B.A. in M.I.S. (Suffern, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: BlackBerry Development Fundamentals (Paperback)

I'm just finishing this book (last few pages tonight) and I have to say this: FANTASTIC!!!

I've been a developer for over 30 years. I've read a lot of books, but this is one of only ones that talks to me as if I were a student in a classroom.

I'm one of those people who prefers hands-on, classroom environments (OK, so I've taught a few times myself) to sitting at a desk and reading. But I have to tell you, I've been reading this book at my desk, and even at my kitchen table at night, and I haven't fallen asleep (no old guy jokes please). I wish everyone would write technical books this way, at every level. I felt like John was there explaining it to me.

I've tried going thru RIM's developer site in the past, but have had nothing but issues. This book is clear, well organized, well written, UP-TO-DATE and right to the point. It finally clears up a lot of the mystery that I've been experiencing getting started and if you've never coded on a BB before, I'm sure it will help you too. My only other wish would be another book from John devoted solely to writing BB apps on Domino, but hey, that's what I do for a living.

To everyone reading this, keep in mind that this is strictly a "Fundamentals" book. It does an excellent job of setting the foundation for success in developing BB apps, but you still need to go out there and learn things on your own (do I hear an opening for a more advanced book?). If you are a developer, you already know what to do. This just gets you started that much faster and with less pitfalls.

George Paglia, M.B.A. in M.I.S.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good information, very little code..., January 30, 2010

By 

cds (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BlackBerry Development Fundamentals (Paperback)

This book does a good job of discussing what a Blackberry can and can't do such as web signals, push service and other infrastructure topics. This is need to know information if you want to develop apps for this device. The writing style is good and easy to understand. This takes up close to 35% of the book. I am not sure if most of it is necessary to create the kind of Blackberry apps that perhaps I and other beginning developers are thinking about at this stage.

However, people like me need code, code and more code. This is where this book is sorely lacking. The Anthony Rizk book, "Beginning Blackberry" would compliment this book. Websites for both authors are minimal at best.

Information on Blackberry development is a bit lean right now but mostly terse to those needing information.

Hopefully, another writer will emerge to combine the best of both books with more code and practical topics of interest such as reading text and html files, pulling and pushing data from web server, bar code scanning to name a few.

If you are looking for useful code examples, forget it. You will not be able to code a basic Blackberry app after reading this book. Nonetheless, this book is a worthwhile purchase to fill in some gaps, but at a lower price.