Press Release
November 2, 2000
Programming the Wireless Web
Sebastopol, CA--According to some estimates, 75 percent of web document viewing
by the year 2002 will be through non-desktop devices, many using wireless
technologies. Clearly, the future is wireless. Wireless Application Protocol
(WAP) is an initiative created by Unwired Planet (Phone.com), Nokia, Motorola,
and Ericsson to develop a standard for creating applications that run on cell
phones, PDAs, and other wireless devices. WML (Wireless Markup Language) and
WMLScript are languages used to write these applications.
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:
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.
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