The Wireless Application Protocol: Writing Applications for the Mobile Internet - Hardcover

Sandeep Singhal; Thomas Bridgman; Lalitha Suyranarayana; Daniel Manuey; Jim Chan; David Bevis; Stefan Hild; Jari Alvinen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0201703114 ISBN 13: 9780201703115

Publisher: Addison-Wesley, 2001

Synopsis

(Pearson Education) A guide to the mobile Internet, the technology that powers it, and how to write content and applications for it. A tutorial and reference for content and application developers and business strategists and service planners, setting the standard for WAP resources. DLC: Computer network protocols.

About this title

Review:

The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and its related specifications seem likely to be the technologies that really bring inexpensive Internet connectivity to the masses; many studies predict that wireless Internet devices will outnumber traditional computer terminals within a couple of years. The Wireless Application Protocol: Writing Applications for the Mobile Internet explores the WAP suite of protocols and languages, taking an approach that suits systems architects and organizational visionaries as well as software developers. The authors--participants in the standards-setting WAP Forum--explain how the pieces of the WAP development and delivery puzzle fit together before dissecting those pieces individually.

Wireless Markup Language (WML) and Wireless Markup Language Script (WMLScript) get the most careful and complete documentation. The coverage of WML here is richer in text than in typical markup language references. The authors have chosen to explain each of WML's smallish set of tags with lots of commentary, code samples, and illustrations, as well as a table that lists legal attributes and their valid values. The WMLScript documentation is less elaborately embroidered on the level of individual functions, but a sizable section on usability and design standards--complete with photographs of various interfaces rendered by different physical devices--more than compensates. Plus, the authors cover push messaging and Wireless Telephony Applications (WTA), subjects that other popular WAP books neglect.

A serious developer of solutions that employ WAP, WML, and their related technologies will already have several books on the subject (including, probably, Professional WAP and Beginning WAP, WML, and WMLScript). This one has earned a place on the shelf. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) specification (version 1.2.1) and the application-development standards that ride on top of it. Coverage includes Wireless Markup Language (WML), Wireless Markup Language Script (WMLScript), push messaging and Wireless Telephony Applications (WTA). Sections address design and efficiency issues.

From the Author:

I still remember the day in early 1999, when Sandeep, Stefan and I first discussed the idea of writing a book on WAP. Over lunch our idea quickly took form and shape. The goal was to provide the reader with the most comprehensive, up-to-date information about WAP, in an environment where the technology and the market were evolving rapidly. Our strategy therefore involved forming a large team that represented different sections of the mobile data industry and complemented each other through specialization in different areas of the technology through both, product implementation and standards development.

This book gives you a complete picture on how to develop and deploy WAP services and integrate them into your existing Web environment. We begin with a background on the mobile Internet revolution discussing market convergence, business issues and potential applications. We then delve into the technical challenges associated with implementing various basic and enhanced WAP capabilities. Throughout the book, we pay careful attention to helping you write WAP content that will work on all devices and browsers.

I believe that we have pulled together a manuscript that is easy to read despite our distance (across continents), differences in writing styles (arising from our language and culture differences), and our busy schedules with full time jobs and families

I hope you derive as much value from using the book as we have had in writing it. I look forward to your comments, thoughts and feedback.

Thanks. Lalitha

About this edition

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0201703114
• ISBN 13: 9780201703115
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 678