Using Google App Engine: Building Web Applications

by Charles Severance

Overview

Build exciting, scalable web applications quickly and confidently using Google App Engine and this book, even if you have little or no experience in programming or web development.

App Engine is perhaps the most appealing web technology to appear in the last year, providing an easy-to-use application framework with basic web tools. While Google's own tutorial assumes significant experience, Using Google App Engine will help anyone get started with this platform. By the end of this book, you'll know how to build complete, interactive applications and deploy them to the cloud using the same servers that power Google applications.

With this book, you will:

• Get an overview of the technologies necessary to use Google App Engine
• Learn how to use Python, HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), HTTP, and DataStore, App Engine's database
• Grasp the technical aspects necessary to create sophisticated, dynamic web applications
• Understand what's required to deploy your applications

Using Google App Engine is also an excellent resource for experienced programmers who want to acquire working knowledge of web technologies. Building web applications used to be for experts only, but with Google App Engine-and this book-anyone can create a dynamic web presence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596800697
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/22/2009
Pages:	259
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Charles Severance is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Information at the Universityof Michigan; he has also taught Computer Science at Michigan State University. Charles also works with the IMS Global Learning Consortium as the IMS Developer Network Coordinator. Previously he was the Executive Director of the Sakai Foundation and the Chief Architect of the Sakai Project (www.sakaiproject.org). Charles is the author of High Performance Computing, Second Edition, published by O'Reilly and Associates. His home page is http://www.dr-chuck.com.

Table of Contents

Preface; Who Should Read This Book?; What’s in This Book?; Teaching with This Book; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; Safari® Books Online; Comments and Questions; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Programming on the Web; 1.1 The Request/Response Cycle; 1.2 What Is Google App Engine?; 1.3 What Is a “Cloud”?; 1.4 Why Did Google Build App Engine and Give It Away for Free?; 1.5 What Is the Google Infrastructure Cloud?; 1.6 Enter the Application Engine; 1.7 Your Application Must Be a Good Citizen in the Google Cloud; 1.8 How the Cloud Runs Your Application; 1.9 Why You Really Want to Run in the Cloud; 1.10 The Simplest App Engine Application; 1.11 Summary; 1.12 Exercises; Chapter 2: HTML and CSS; 2.1 A Brief History of HTML and CSS; 2.2 HyperText Markup Language (HTML); 2.3 A Well-Formed HTML Document; 2.4 Validating Your HTML; 2.5 HyperText Links (Anchor Tags); 2.6 Multiple Files; 2.7 Lists in HTML; 2.8 Specifying Styles Using CSS; 2.9 Exerting More Control over Markup; 2.10 Building the Navigation Menu; 2.11 Summary; 2.12 Exercises; Chapter 3: Python; 3.1 What Is Programming?; 3.2 About Python; 3.3 The Essence of Programming; 3.4 Conditional Steps: A Number-Guessing Web Application; 3.5 Object-Oriented Python; 3.6 The Tao of Programming; 3.7 Summary; 3.8 Exercises; Chapter 4: Sending Data to Your Application; 4.1 Making an HTTP Request; 4.2 Hacking the HTTP Protocol; 4.3 The HTTP Protocol Standards; 4.4 Watching HTTP in Action; 4.5 HTML: Building a Form; 4.6 Sending Form Data to the Server Using POST; 4.7 Handling Form Data in the App Engine Server; 4.8 Sending Form Data to the Server Using GET; 4.9 App Engine Log; 4.10 Looking at All the Data Available on an HTTP Request; 4.11 Advanced: Multipart POST Data with File Upload; 4.12 Summary; 4.13 Exercises; Chapter 5: The App Engine webapp Framework; 5.1 A Trivial App Engine Application; 5.2 An Equivalent Trivial webapp Application; 5.3 The Handler Callback Pattern; 5.4 Looking at the Handler Code; 5.5 What Is “self” and Why Is It There?; 5.6 Number Guessing Using the webapp Framework; 5.7 Web Server Logs; 5.8 Summary; 5.9 Exercises; Chapter 6: Templates; 6.1 Template Syntax; 6.2 Using the Templates from Python; 6.3 The Number-Guessing Game Using Templates; 6.4 Abstraction and Separation of Concerns: “Model View Controller”; 6.5 Building a Multiscreen Application; 6.6 Static Files in App Engine; 6.7 Generalizing Template Lookup with Multiple Templates; 6.8 Extending Base Templates; 6.9 Conditional Processing Templates; 6.10 Extending Our Application; 6.11 Syntax Errors; 6.12 More on Templates; 6.13 Summary; 6.14 Exercises; Chapter 7: Cookies and Sessions; 7.1 HTTP Cookies; 7.2 Logging In and Logging Out Using Sessions; 7.3 Installing the Simple Session Utility; 7.4 Using the Session to Mark Login and Logout; 7.5 Changing the User Interface for a Logged-In User; 7.6 Summary; 7.7 Exercises; Chapter 8: App Engine Datastore; 8.1 The Model-View-Controller Pattern; 8.2 Looking Through the Datastore; 8.3 Terminology: Different Types of Keys; 8.4 References Between Data Models; 8.5 Summary; 8.6 Exercises; Chapter 9: JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX; 9.1 jQuery; 9.2 Create a View of the Chat Messages in HTML; 9.3 Asynchronously Updating a
Using AJAX; 9.4 Summary; 9.5 Exercises; Chapter 10: Running Your Application on the Google Infrastructure; 10.1 Application Engine Accounts; 10.2 Creating an Application on App Engine; 10.3 Logs, Statistics, and Other Features; 10.4 Collaboration on Applications; 10.5 Summary; 10.6 Exercises; Chapter 11: Memory Cache; 11.1 The Rules of Memory Cache; 11.2 Using the Memory Cache; 11.3 Using the Application Console to Examine Memory Cache; 11.4 Using a Memory Cache in Your Application; 11.5 Building a Session Store Using Memory Cache; 11.6 Sessions and Memory Cache; 11.7 Summary; 11.8 Exercises; Installing and Running Google App Engine on Windows XP; Download and Install; Making Your First Application; Dealing with Errors; Shutting Down the Server; Installing and Running Google App Engine on Windows Vista; Download and Install; Making Your First Application; Dealing with Errors; Shutting Down the Server; Installing and Running Google App Engine on a Macintosh System; Download and Install; Making Your First Application; Dealing with Errors; Shutting Down the Server; Installing and Running Google App Engine on a Linux System; Checking for Python; Download and Install; Making Your First Application; Dealing with Errors; Shutting Down the Server; Colophon;