BKFBKCBK.RVW   20090119

"Facebook Cookbook", Jay Goldman, 2009, 978-0-596-51817-2,
U$39.99/C$39.99
%A   Jay Goldman http://JayGoldman.com
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   2009
%G   978-0-596-51817-2 0-596-51817-X
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$39.99/C$39.99 800-998-9938 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/059651817X/robsladesinterne
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/059651817X/robsladesinte-21
%O   http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/059651817X/robsladesin03-20
%O   Audience a Tech 1 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation)
%P   404 p.
%T   "Facebook Cookbook"

The preface states that this book is aimed at programmers with general
Web development experience, who are interested in building
applications for the Facebook Website (as opposed to Facebook Desktop
and Mobile utilities).  Readers should understand HTML (HyperText
Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), PHP programming, and
SQL (Standard Query Language) in order to get full benefit from the
material.

Chapter one lists the factors involved in producing a successful
Facebook application, which turn out to be startlingly similar to the
factors involved in producing a successful application of any type. 
The common "Cookbook" style of presenting a problem, and then the
solution, is introduced in chapter two, which examines the issue of
market research.  Installation, and basic use, of the Facebook
developer application is in chapter three.

Some issues of architecture and design are addressed in chapter four. 
Chapter five presents a number of concerns, but it's difficult to find
any topic common to them.  The Facebook Markup Language (FBML) is
outlined (fairly extensively) in chapter six.  A sandboxed version of
JavaScript, called (of course) Facebook JavaScript (FBJS), is
described in chapter seven.  (The addition of sandboxing to JavaScript
is rather ironic, in view of the many other security problems and
weaknesses in Facebook.)  Chapter eight deals with the Facebook Query
Language, and nine with the Facebook API (Application Programming
Interface).  Marketing your application turns out to be the same as
most other marketing, and chapter ten seems to come full circle again,
but the tools that Facebook can provide to assist with this process
are listed here.

This book collects documentation for the Facebook application
development tools into one place.  As noted in the preface, you will
need to be an experienced programmer in order to take best advantage
of them.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2009   BKFBKCBK.RVW   20090119