Google Wave: Up and Running

Chapter 5. Developing with the Google Wave API

Well, we’ve had fun playing around with the Google Wave Client, and by now I hope that you feel comfortable with Google Wave’s product layer. As we progress through this chapter and subsequent chapters, we’ll be working with the platform layer, delving into a more technical discussion about extensions and embedding waves.

Tip

The discussion in this chapter and subsequent chapters is based on the use of extensions in the Google Wave Client, which currently is the only client available that supports gadgets and extensions.

Key Concepts

Before we start throwing down some code, I think it’s important to familiarize you with the Google Wave platform at a conceptual level. Don’t worry if you’re not a “mad hacker” or if programming is not your forte. We’re going to progress through the platform gradually to make sure that you can get the most out of the Google Wave API.

Some Things You Should Know

Let’s take a quick inventory of some of the programming languages and technical concepts with which you should be familiar.

Programming language/technical concept	Likely usage
	Robots	Gadgets	Embedded waves
Python	Heavy	None	None
Java	Heavy	None	None
JavaScript	Light	Heavy	Moderate
XML	Light	Light	Light
HTML	Light	Moderate	Moderate
CSS	Light	Moderate	Light
RESTful APIs	Moderate	Moderate	None
Google App Engine	Heavy	None	None

Tip

Although both Java and Python client libraries can be used with the Robots API, we will use the Google Wave Python client library for the development of robots in this ...