Click here to view the OpenSocial codelab.

Simple OpenSocial applications can be built without any server side logic, leveraging the OpenSocial persistence API. For more complex applications requiring server side logic, many developers choose to use their own server. As their applications spread virally and become more successful, these developers end up spending most of their time making their applications scale instead of adding new features.

Cloud computing services can provide a solution to these problems. This session will explain how to build an OpenSocial application with server side business logic, on top of Google App Engine, using makeRequest to make digitally signed calls to your server side logic.

Prerequisites: Familiarity with Python 2.5, must have a Google App Engine account and must have downloaded and installed the Google App Engine SDK; must have an OpenSocial in the Cloud resource bundle. Please note this session will move very quickly, so it's important to set up everything beforehand.

Experience building web applications necessary with working knowledge of JS; knowledge of Python is helpful.

Chewy Trewhella

Chewy is a Developer Advocate at Google. His job is to make technical things accessible and relevant to technical and non-technical people. He is particularly knowledgeable about Google's APIs and webmaster programmes. He has a BEng in Software Engineering, and he's been with Google since November 2005. When he's not at work, he likes to play the banjo, and sleep.

Chris Chabot

Chris is a Developer Advocate at Google. His main interests these days are OpenSocial, Open Source, innovative web 2.0 technologies and trying to do the impossible.

Before his involvement in the OpenSocial world, he worked with his passion, connecting computers and people, ranging from intelligent planning software for international transport companies in the early 90's to more recently, some of the leading Web 2.0 sites in the Netherlands.

Thomas Steiner

Thomas is a Customer Solutions Engineer with Google. His main interests these days are JavaScript, Ajax, (Google) APIs, and the social Web. In the past he has led several open source projects, like REST Describe & Compile (code generation for REST-based APIs) and APIlity (PHP client library for the AdWords API). Thomas' blog is located at blog.tomayac.de.

Patrick Chanezon

Patrick has been a Developer Advocate at Google since 2005. He has built and grown developer ecosystems for OpenSocial, Checkout and AdWords. Previously he has worked on portals, blogs and syndication feeds at Sun Microsystems, AOL and Netscape. He's the co-founder of the ROME - Atom and RSS utilities in java open source project and the OSSGTP (Open Source Get Together Paris) group.

More on his blog at wordpress.chanezon.com