Facebook Cookbook

Jay Goldman's FACEBOOK COOKBOOK: BUILDING APPLICATIONS TO GROW YOUR FACEBOOK EMPIRE provides a fine cookbook of applications designed to allow internet programmers methods of finding useful ways to design and build scalable applications. From tips on designing with hosting and using Facebook's integration point to understanding differences between JavaScript and SQL and how they are used on Facebook, libraries catering to web applications developers will find this a fine survey.

A good technical book will achieve two goals: inform and inspire. Now, a great technical book, that will motivate. It will force you to act. Not out of obligation, but with verve that's usually reserved for a kid in a candy shop. And the Facebook Cookbook is motivating as hell. It's so motivating that I've passed off the book to our other team members, Matt and Jim, to get them on board with not just some of the Facebook app ideas I'd like to explore this year, but some of the other technical insights that are found in the book. We'll see if they're as excited as I expect them to be after having a read. And, who knows, maybe a great Facebook app will come out of it. As long as it doesn't involve Zombies, I'll be excited to work on it. So, let's talk about application ideas. Clearly, the Facebook application environment is super crowded, with volumes of applications in all sorts of categories, but there's always room for new successes with a well executed idea. More important than anything, with the Facebook Cookbook Jay's been able to get me to explore ideas that may otherwise have been put on the back burner, simply because of a perceived complexity in building for a new technical environment. The directness with which Jay and guests such as Jeffrey Tseng and Ilya Grigorik (among other great contributors) tackle not just the technical aspects of the Facebook Platform, but supporting technologies, Facebook specific marketing, and more, demystify this new environment. Even better than breaking down the process of moving from idea to app to growth, across all of the key aspects of managing a successful Facebook app, the Facebook Cookbook is full of detailed and specific insight. For example, Application Notifications are limited (such as the notification you'd get from Scrabulous (now Lexulous) saying "Mike Fragomeni has played a move in Lexulous. You may have moves pending in other games too. Click here to view your games." (By the way, Mike's pretty good if you're in the mood for a challenge)). The Application Notification limits are also based on user feedback. For example, your notifications can be flagged as spam, which sicks the Facebook Platform Police on you. So, you need to be very careful about how you manage your notifications. Rather than ramping up to the maximum number of notifications, play with your wording and context of delivery to ensure that you have a healthy opt-in rate, aren't getting flagged as spam, and aren't losing app users because they're getting tired of all the messages they have to sift through every time they log in. Once you find the right balance, that's the time to increase your flow of notifications. And, the more engaged your users are, the more notifications your app will be allocated. Win win. There are great insights just like that throughout each chapter of the Facebook Cookbook. I know I'm writing more about idea generation and marketing. That's simply because I don't play much of a role in coding the

This is most reader friendly Facebook development book I have read so far. I own about 5 books on the subject and the case studies (problem, solution, discussion) found in this book have been the most useful by far.

This tutorial is for developers with a broad but not necessarily deep background in web development who are interested in building Facebook web applications. Although Facebook Desktop and Mobile apps are covered where applicable, the content of this book is about straight web applications. Material covered includes how to plan an app, API details and FQL calls, and how to market and attract users, so there should be something for all participants in Facebook app development. The author assumes you already know your way around web development in the areas of HTML, CSS, PHP programming, and SQL/database design. You don't need to be an expert with any of them, and the author makes suggestions on good books on all of the supporting technologies. The following is the detailed table of contents for the book, which is currently not included in the product description: Chapter 1. Introducing Facebook Platform - A general overview of Facebook, Facebook Platform, and an introduction to the opportunity it represents. Chapter 2. Ideation and Strategy - If you don't have an idea in mind already for an app, this chapter helps you out by giving you some ideas for some applications that you can extend. Shows techniques for doing app design quickly and with the best possible results. Chapter 3. Hello World - Walks you through the classic Hello World first programming example. Chapter 4. Architecture and Design - Covers the best architectures for Facebook apps, provides some recommendations for database performance, and produces an overview of the design and user experience of some winning applications. Chapter 5. Setting Up Your Environment - Learn about all the things you need to download in order to get started. Learn how to add apps to Facebook, how to set up a test account, and how to get information on the latest changes to Facebook. Chapter 6. Facebook Markup Language (FBML) - FBML is the glue that holds the Facebook Platform together. Covers all of the tags, discusses some odd behaviors you might encounter, and explores some great tricks for building better frontends. Chapter 7. Facebook JavaScript (FBJS) - This chapter explains why you can't just use regular JavaScript in your app, how to build great Ajax-like interactions using Facebook's Mock Ajax techniques, and goes into detail about all of the useful functions available to you. Chapter 8. Facebook Query Language (FQL) - As FBML is to HTML, FQL is to SQL. This chapter examines the schema of the various database tables to which you have access, and catalogs some really useful FQL queries you can use in your apps. Chapter 9. Facebook API - Digs deep into the code of the API that connects everything together. The chapter goes through each of the objects and methods you have at your disposal, and gives you some tips and tricks for desktop apps. The chapter covers the API using the official Facebook PHP Client, but it shouldn't be too hard to convert these examples into your language of choice.