(January 2010) Facebook Application Development

Facebook is the largest social networking site on the Internet today, with more than 200 million users worldwide using the system to connect and communicate. Internet programmers and developers are naturally attracted to this vast network. They can use their expertise to enhance the user experience with smart applications or to promote products.

Facebook launched the Facebook Platform two years ago to provide a framework for software developers to create applications. The Facebook Markup Language and Facebook Query Language were also introduced. Since then, many innovative applications have appeared on Facebook. Nearly all major companies have some presence on the site and It has rapidly become the newest Web powerhouse. To get in the game, developers need to learn the platform environment and infrastructure such as the LAMP stack, the PHP language and MySQL database.

At UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley, our engineering and technology curriculum includes a certificate track for Internet Programming and Development. Beginning this quarter, we're offering a new course on “Developing Facebook Applications”. For those who are not yet familiar with LAMP, PHP and MySQL, we have excellent introductory courses to prepare you for professional development in this field. For those who want to build Facebook applications for mobile platforms, we also have programming lab courses specifically for Android and iPhone ™ smart phones. While we're on the topic of Facebook, take a moment to join our UCSC Extension Facebook page to keep track of school news and events.