O'Reilly's most recent release, Learning WML & WMLScript (Frost, $34.95), gets developers up to speed quickly on these technologies, mapping out in detail the Wireless Application Environment, and its two major components: WML and WMLScript. With these two technologies, developers can format information in almost all applications for display by mobile devices, such as cell phones, and enables the user to interact with the information.
"Since WAP works in a mobile environment, it also has to contend with the particular problems of wireless networks; low bandwidth (9600 bps or less is commonplace), high latency (round-trip times of the order of seconds are not uncommon), and unreliability (someone may be using her WAP phone when the train goes into a tunnel or when she walks past a tall building)," says Martin Frost, author of Learning WML & WMLScript. "Everyone with a mobile phone knows about the reliability problem. These problems are why WAP is necessary. And at the heart of WAP, from the point of view of the developer, is WML."
Different design rules apply to a small (1.5 inch by 3 inch) display than to content displayed on a 17" monitor. Content must also be designed to work uniformly on a wide range of environments. WAP-and WML and WMLScript-provide an answer to these problems. Learning WML & WMLScript is the resource for web or application developers who want to be on the wireless cutting edge. Don't get left plugged in-the future is wireless, and it's here.
Online Resource:
-
Chapter 3, WML Tasks
and Events, is available free online.
-
An article by the author, WML and WMLScript Tips
& Tricks, is available online at:
-
More information
about the book, including Table of Contents, index,
author bio, and samples.
- A cover graphic in jpeg format, go to:
Learning WML &
WMLScript: Programming the Wireless Web
By Martin Frost
October 2000
1-56592-947-0, 208 pages, $34.95 (US.)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
About O’Reilly
O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.