Firstenberg Allen - Designing and developing for Google Glass: [thinking differently for a new platform]

What we need to state up front is that this isnt just a How to code for Google Glass bookwe wholeheartedly believe its much much more than that. Rather than merely copy and paste Googles API documentation and run through the general environment for programming, testing, and distributing Glass applications, we seek to educate you with a philosophy centered on awareness of the Google Glass ecosystemgetting you to Think for Glass. By this merit, youll have a better understanding about the approach necessary to get the most out of this revolutionary new computing platform.

Well be looking at what Glass means for users, developers, and society as a whole.

This book is organized to be flexible to your interests while still presenting the material in a logical fashion to teach you all about Glass. Weve essentially organized the material as a three-act play. While some of the more technical sections build upon concepts that preceded them in earlier chapters, the topics are largely arranged in such a way that they can be consumed completely out of order without losing focus, giving you the freedom to jump to the discussion that intrigues you most, or skip over stuff that doesnt pique your interest. New Glass owners (or those of you contemplating taking the leap) will particularly enjoy the first few chapters, which deal with how to properly Discover the platform.

Maybe you just want to be one of the cool kids and talk to your peers with deep expertise about what Glass is and how they can use it. Living on the bleeding edge is totally awesome, and weve written just for that reason.

If youre a designer who wants to create for the hottest UI to hit the consumer tech industry in years, youll want to make sure you read the Design section. Well be talking about the Glass aesthetic and how to compose effective designs that maximize data in a minimal display, how the experience is fundamentally different than designing for other platforms, and what we mean when we say you should Think for Glass. Before you dive into code, youll want to consider Chapters to make sure that what you want to do works well with the people who use Glass.

If youre a programmer whos heard the buzz about wearable computing, youll then want to continue to the third part of the book, Develop . In this section, it may behoove you to read Chapters where we talk about the Glass Development Kit.

Or if youve been itching to create a slick mashup with some third-party web APIs and want to corner a very emerging space, weve got you covered, toocheck out the latter chapters for insight.

And simply starting from page 1 and running through the entire book will give you a well-rounded Glass education in order to understand the Glass ecosystem and build effective Glassware. Being able to Think for Glass means that you have to understand the system in total. Youll truly grasp what the system is all about and how to best make it work for you once youre done reading.

And at the end of the book, weve included a helpful appendix that focuses on hacking Glass. We also feature Glassware Done Right, a series of case studies that highlight noteworthy third-party services and applications that are top-shelf examples of programs written specifically for the Glass experience that really get the job done. Some are simple, some are complex, but theyre all outstanding and all really fun to use, with each illustrating a positive lesson to follow about how to implement a specific software idea or challenge with this new model.