Facebook Application Development
Markus Sammallahti · Theseus (Ammattikorkeakoulujen) · 2010
The purpose of this thesis was to gather high-level technical information about Facebook application development. The primary study targets were Facebook platform components: how they could be used in platform applications and what kind of data is available for the applications to use. During the project two applications were built to obtain first-hand knowledge about the development process and available tools. At the beginning of the project the platform was studied by reading available online documentation. Information about all platform components was gathered, and the purpose and capabilities of each component was mapped out in detail. Later in the project this information was used to create experimental applications. During the development process one aim was to discover possible problems with the platform components, and special circumstances regarding the platform were investigated. The Facebook platform was found to be extremely powerful in developing a social application. The tools that the platform provides proved to be very useful and easy to use. It was possible to build fully functional social applications quickly by combining all platform components. User data provided by the platform was also found to be very useful. It was noted that the user data and large numbers of users are the most important asset of the platform. As all development platforms, the Facebook platform was also found to have advantages and disadvantages. The platform offers many powerful components that save a large amount of time in the development process, but at the same time it lays down very stringent development restrictions. While developing a Facebook application a choice between some platform components and development tools had to be made. Other problems with the platform components proved to be trivial and easy to solve. All project objectives were achieved, and the project can be considered successful. The comprehensive information about Facebook application development that was gathered can be used in future projects.