Facebook API Developers Guide (Firstpress) [Paperback]

Wayne Graham (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1430209690 | ISBN-13: 978-1430209690 | Publication Date: February 28, 2008 | Edition: 1

Facebook is a huge social networking site with about 50 million members. In May 2007, Facebook announced that they were implementing the Facebook API: a programming interface that allows users to create their own Facebook applications and access Facebook data. This book takes readers through their first steps with the API, introducing all of the functionality they need to create larger applications.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wayne Graham is the Emerging Technology Coordinator at the Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (February 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430209690
• ISBN-13: 978-1430209690
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #742,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars First Out Of The Gate, January 23, 2009

By 

Adam Pasztory "adampasz" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Facebook API Developers Guide (Firstpress) (Paperback)

As far as I know, this was the first book released about Facebook development. So it comes as no surprise that it feels like it was written in a weekend. It's quite an accomplishment to make a book that's only 100 pages long feel padded, yet somehow the author manages to achieve this. For example, the bit of code that shows you how to set your API Key variable in the config.php file is repeated at least 3 times! The sample application that occupies the rear third of the book is extremely disappointing because it is just a plain old PHP app. It does not take advantage of the Facebook API.

I'm giving this book 2 stars in part because there is a dearth of Facebook development books. And there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the information provided here, it's just limited. As a primer it will be enough to get you started, but you'll be done with the book in a couple hours and hungering for more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good starting point, insufficient for advanced developers, June 10, 2008

By 

Hwan-joon Choi "hc5duke" (Bay/Valley) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Facebook API Developers Guide (Firstpress) (Paperback)

The book does go over a lot of the basic elements of the API, but I felt it didn't offer me much more than what I could already learn from the Facebook Developers wiki or resource pages. Keep in mind that it's only 100 pages - there is a chapter on building a sample Facebook app, though I wish it had offered more "cookbook" style recipes. The author gives you what he promises, which is an API guide, but I was hoping for more concrete examples. I would not recommend this book for more advanced developers.

One last thing I wanted to mention is that it doesn't seem to include some of the newer features of Facebook, such as Pages.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Very Useful, July 1, 2008

By 

Seth A. Cardoza "skwigger" (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Facebook API Developers Guide (Firstpress) (Paperback)

This book only covers the very basics. I would only recommend it to someone thinking about Facebook API development. If you've already jumped into it, this book won't take you very far.