This practical book provides everything you need to know about the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). This open technology for real-time communication is used in many diverse applications such as instant messaging, Voice over IP, real-time collaboration, social networking, microblogging, lightweight middleware, cloud computing, and more. XMPP: The Definitive Guide walks you through the thought processes and design decisions involved in building a complete XMPP-enabled application, and adding real-time interfaces to existing applications. You'll not only learn simple yet powerful XMPP tools, but you'll also discover, through real-world developer stories, how common XMPP "building blocks" can help solve particular classes of problems. With this book, you will: Learn the basics of XMPP technologies, including architectural issues, addressing, and communication primitives Understand the terminology of XMPP and learn about the wealth of XMPP servers, clients, and code libraries Become familiar with the XMPP concepts and services you need to solve common problems Construct a complete business application or real-time service with XMPP Every day, more software developers and service providers are using XMPP for real-time applications, and with the help of XMPP: The Definitive Guide, you can, too.