Sams Teach Yourself the Twitter API in 24 Hours: (Sams Teach Yourself -- Hours)

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you’ll learn how to build great new social applications with the latest versions of the Twitter API. Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll discover all you can do with the Twitter API, and master everything from the absolute basics to the newest innovations. One step at a time, you’ll learn how to build Twitter clients and extend them with more power… use advanced features like streaming and geotagging… even build mobile Twitter apps for iPhone and Android! Each lesson builds on what you’ve already learned resulting in a fully functional Twitter application, giving you a strong real-world foundation for success, even if you’re completely new to Twitter development!   Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Twitter API programming tasks.   Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge.   By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion.   Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks.   Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them.   Learn how to… Make the right upfront decisions in planning your application Integrate Twitter support into existing sites, services, and applications Set up your Twitter development environment Make Twitter API calls, handle responses, and develop readers Construct dynamic frameworks to efficiently generate and manage multiple API calls Build basic clients and extend them to handle more powerful tasks Securely access server resources with OAuth Use Direct Messages, Lists, Search, and other Twitter API features Enable users to control their accounts, establish favorites and friendships, send notifications, and block individuals Build location-based, geotagged applications with Twitter’s GEO API Give users up-to-the-minute information about the hottest Twitter topics Get started with Twitter development for iPhone and Android Understand the future of Twitter API development  

Table of Contents:
Preface    xiii   HOUR 1: What Is Twitter? 1 What Twitter Offers You     1 A Brief History of Twitter–or Why 140 Characters?    2 Summary    7 Q&A     8 HOUR 2: Twitter Out of the Box 11 What Twitter Offers You     11 Registering Your Application     15 The Twitter Client     16 Summary     18 Q&A     18 HOUR 3: Key Issues to Consider When Developing Twitter Applications 21 Types of Twitter Users     21 Types of Twitter Applications     25 Platform    30 Summary     31 Q&A     31 HOUR 4: Creating a Development Environment 33 Background of LAMP Stacks     33 Setting Up a Local Web Server     34 Securing Your Web Server     38 Development Tools    41 Summary     45 Q&A     46 HOUR 5: Making Your First API Call 49 Making a Simple Twitter API Call    49 Making a Call in PHP    53 Summary     57 Q&A     58 HOUR 6: Building a Simple Twitter Reader 59 Building Our First Twitter Client     59 Twitter HTTP Response Codes    65 Summary     69 Q&A     71 HOUR 7: Creating a Twitter API Framework 73 Twitter API Parameters     73 Creating an API Function for Twitter Function Calls     75 Summary     80 Q&A     80 HOUR 8: Twitter OAuth 81 What Is a Class and Why Do We Want to Use It?     81 What Is OAuth?     82 How to Register Your Application     82 Creating the OAuth Twitter Class     83 PHP Library for Working with Twitter’s OAuth API     84 Setting Up the twitterOAuth Class     85 How to Add New Functions to Your Twitter Class Object     90 How Our Class Deals with Twitter Connection Errors     92 Summary     93 Q&A     93 HOUR 9: Building a Simple Twitter Client, Part I 95 Expanding the Index File to Support Tabs     95 Adding Support for Home Timeline     97 Adding Support for Mentions    99 Adding Support for Direct Messages     101 Summary     102 Q&A     102 HOUR 10: Building a Simple Twitter Client, Part II 105 Updating and Adding New Files to Support Input Text Field     105 Sending a Message to Twitter     108 API Call for Direct Messages     109 Sanitizing Messages     110 Summary     110 Q&A     111 HOUR 11: Expanding Our Client for More API Calls 113 Types of API Method Calls     113 Adding Tabs to Our UI     114 New Timeline API Calls: Retweeted     117 New Status API Calls: Retweeted     119 Summary     123 Q&A     123 HOUR 12: Direct Messages 125 Sending a Direct Message     125 Adding Direct Message API Support     127 Adding More Direct Message API Support     131 The Destroy API Method     132 Summary     133 Q&A     133 HOUR 13: Lists 135 What Is a List?    135 Implementing the List API into Our Application     137 Three Types of List Methods     142 Summary     144 Q&A     144 HOUR 14: Favorites and User Methods 147 Favorites API Methods     147 User API Methods    153 Summary     158 Q&A     159 HOUR 15: Search 161 History of Twitter Search API     161 Twitter’s Stance on Search     161 The Lone Search API    162 A Quick Guide to More Information on Search from the Twitter Docs     170 Summary     173 Q&A     174 HOUR 16: Trends and GEO 177 What Is a Trending Topic?     177 Supporting Trends in Our Application     177 Understanding the GEO Tag    187 Summary     190 Q&A     190 HOUR 17: Friendships, Notification, Block, and Account Methods 193 Friendships Methods     193 Notification Methods     197 Block Methods     198 Account Methods     199 Summary     202 Q&A     202 HOUR 18: Twitter Documentation 205 The Twitter Dev Website     205 Devtwittercom/doc     211 Twitter Resource Page Overview     212 Summary     216 Q&A     216 HOUR 19: Streaming API 219 The Three Types of Streaming APIs     219 Streaming Methods     222 Summary     226 Q&A     226 HOUR 20: FailWhale and the Future of the API     229 What Is Spotting the FailWhale?     229 Review of the Application We Just Built    231 Where Is the Twitter API Going?     236 Summary    237 Q&A     238 HOUR 21: Getting Started in Twitter Android Application    241 Introducing Android     241 Creating the Hello Android Project     243 Summary    251 Q&A     252 HOUR 22: Building Android Applications with Twitter     255 Using Twitter OAuth in Android     255 Importing Packages     261 Summary    276 Q&A     276 HOUR 23: Getting Started with Twitter Using iOS    279 Introducing iOS    279 Creating a Hello World Application     280 Summary    289 Q&A     290 HOUR 24: Building an iPhone and iPod Touch Application with Twitter     293 Introducing Twitter xAuth     293 Benefits of Using Twitter xAuth    294 Selecting Twitter Objective-C Libraries     294 Loading xAuth Token    302 Posting Tweet    304 Adding MGTwitterEngine Delegate Methods     305 Creating Objects in Interface Builder    308 Summary    315 Q&A    316 INDEX    319  

About the Author :
Dr. Christopher Peri received his Doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, in Architecture. His focus was on Collaboration in Virtual Environments delving into methods that facilitate designers and engineers to improve communication over remote networks.   He started playing with the Twitter API very early in the API release, creating his own Twitter client called TwittFilter, which is geared more to the occasional user then someone who uses Twitter all the time. As time went on, he added more and more features and functions for his own personal use, until one day he realized he had a fairly sophisticated application and opened it up to the general public to use. He learned quite a bit about the Twitter API the hard way—by simply coding things up and seeing what happens. Although TwittFilter is still a personal project, he has already created a number of private Twitter applications, robots, and smaller projects like NewsSnacker.com, which is open to the public.   Bess Ho is a UI Engineer in mobile, tablet, TV, and web with a strong background in data analytic and consumer behavior. She received her Master Degree from the University of California, Davis in Food Science and Technology. Her focus was on Consumer Sensory Science and Engineering. She is the winner of Nokia Open Screen Project Fund and was elected as Samsung Star in the Samsung Mobile Innovator worldwide program. She served as technical editor for the book titled Building OpenSocial Apps: A Field Guide to Working with MySpace Platform (Addison Wesley, 2009). She has presented mobile technology at Stanford University, O’Reilly Web20 Expo SF, Where20 Conference, Silicon Valley China Wireless Conference, and many developer events. Currently, she is Mobile Architect (EIR) for Archimedes Ventures. She also advises many early-stage startups in UI/UXP design and mobile development in multiple platforms. She is actively teaching many mobile classes such as iOS SDK in Silicon Valley and online courses at Udemy.com. You can follow her at Twitter @Bess or Slideshare at www.slideshare.net/bess.ho. Her developer blog is at http://www.bess.co.