The Facebook Platform Elements

There are three elements to the Facebook Platform:

• The Facebook API (Application Programming Interface)
• FBML—Facebook Markup Language
• FQL—Facebook Query Language

We'll now spend some time with each of these elements, and you'll see how you can use them individually, and in conjunction to make powerful yet simple applications. The great thing is that if you haven't got your web server set up yet, don't worry, because Facebook supplies you with all of the tools that you would need in order to do a test run with each of the elements.

The Facebook API

If you've already done some programming, then you'll probably know what an API (or Application Programming Interface) is. It's a set of software libraries that enable you to work with an application (in this case, Facebook) without knowing anything about its internal workings. All you have to do is obtain the libraries, and start making use of them in your own application.

Now, before you start downloading files, you can actually learn more about their functionality by making use of the Facebook API Test Console.

The Facebook API Test Console

If you want to make use of the Facebook Test Console, you'll first need to access the Facebook developers' section—you'll find a link to this at the bottom of every Facebook page:

Alternatively, you can use the URL http://developers.facebook.com to go there directly in your browser. When you get to this page, you'll find a link to the Tools page:

Or, again, you can go directly to http://developers.facebook.com/tools.php, where you'll find the API Test Console: