This book provides an introduction to Bluetooth wireless technology and Bluetooth programming, with a specific focus on the parts of Bluetooth thatconcern a software developer. While there is already a host of existing lit-erature about Bluetooth, few of these texts are written for the programmerwho is concerned primarily with creating Bluetooth software applications. In-stead, they tell all about Bluetooth, when most of the time, the programmeris interested only in a tiny fraction of this information.
This book purposefully and happily leaves out a great deal of informationabout Bluetooth. Concepts are simplified and described in ways that makesense to a programmer, not necessarily the ways they’re laid out in theBlue-tooth specification. The approach is to start simply, allowing the reader to quicklymaster the basic concepts with the default parameters before addressing a few advanced features.
Despite these omissions, this book is a rigorous introduction to Blue-tooth, albeit with a narrow focus. Applications can be developed without Applications can be developed without an understanding of the radio modulation techniques or the algorithms underlying the generation of Bluetooth encryption keys. Programmers, however, do need to understand issues such as the available transport protocols,the processes governing establishing connections, and the mechanisms fortransferring data.
We strongly believe in learning by example and have included working programs that demonstrate the concepts and techniques introduced in the text.* Examples are provided for a wide variety of programming languages and environments, including Python, C, and Java, running on GNU/Linux, Windows, Nokia Series 60, and OSX. Special emphasis is given to the Python language examples – the simplicity and clarity of Python allows us to very easily show the translation of concepts and techniques into actual working programs.We believe that programmers who have never seen or used Python will find these examples easy to follow and understand.
This book is not meant to be a be-all and end-all guide to Bluetooth programming; rather it is meant to serve as a stepping stone, the first foothold for programmers interested in working with Bluetooth. The exposition of concepts and demonstration of techniques should be sufficient to allow any programmer to start creating his or her own functional Bluetooth applications that can interoperate withmany other Bluetooth devices. For those interested
in a deeper understanding of the inner workings and nitty-gritty details of Bluetooth, this book serves as sufficient preparation to enable one to tackle the more complex and technical documents like the Bluetooth specification itself.
