Mining Google Web Services: Building Applications with the Google API

This chapter helps you understand how to use Java to build a Google Web Services application. In fact, the chapter discusses how to build several application types so you get a better idea of just how flexible Java is. The chapter has also pointed out hurdles you might encounter when building the application. Java is an outstanding language with amazing flexibility, but it also has significant problems that you can't overcome with ease. The important issue is to determine whether the benefits of using Java outweigh potential problems when you decide whether to use this language.

Begin your preparation for using Java by using the Web site URLs in the "Resources for Learning Java" section of the chapter. Once you know Java well enough, you're ready to look at the requirements for your application. Make sure you spend enough time considering the issue of whether the intelligence for your application will reside on the client or the server (or something in between). You also need to consider the server setup you want to use and decide what kind of functionality to build into your application. You might decide to start with something as simple as a search site so you can see how Google Web Services performs , as well as how you need to configure your setup for a more advanced application.

Chapter 9 moves development from desktop, laptop, notebook, and other large devices to the small, mobile devices that many people use today. These devices are lightweight, easy to carry, and generally allow the user to communicate everywhere. As great as these devices are for the general user , they're a problematic platform at best for the developer because you need to consider the limitations of such devices. Most mobile devices have small displays, lack full keyboard functionality, have limited memory, have reduced processing power, and have significant operating system limits. However, even with these problems, mobile devices can serve as an important platform for your Google Web Services application and Google certainly makes it easy to use these devices.