Amazon.co.uk
Written for the more experienced C/C++ developer moving to Palm development,
Palm OS Programming, 2nd Edition sets an admirable standard as a programming tutorial that will let anyone get onboard with the best techniques and APIs used to build state-of-the-art Palm applications.
Few programming titles are as well written as this one. The authors consistently engage the reader with a tone that's smart and surprisingly personable given that this is actually a technical book. They first develop what is special about the Palm platform, including the best way to build user interfaces, plus dos and don'ts for new software. Early sections dissect real software (DateBk4 from Pimlico Software) with commentary from one of its inventors. After surveying the wide array of Palm development options (including CodeWarrior and the Palm OS Emulator, POSE), it's on to a simple Palm program.
While many programming texts use samples that grow in complexity, this title is anchored by a single case study--a sales application. As the authors cover the basics of Palm development, from event-handling basics, APIs for memory management, and form-control programming, they give the APIs you'll need to know. Then they show how their case study makes use of these features. (This approach is effective, though it assumes a bit of programming knowledge on the part of the reader.)
Standout sections here look at what makes Palm development special, including memory management techniques, plus a fascinating look at automated testing tools (called Gremlins), which can find bugs by executing thousands of simulated user actions. Later sections delve into what it takes to create HotSync capabilities for your Palm applications. These modules, called Conduits, clearly present a programming challenge and the coverage here will benefit developers of all levels of experience on the Palm platform.
The Palm platform has been a real success story, and Palm OS Programming: The Developer's Guide shows why. It shows you how to think like a real Palm developer as well as give you the specific APIs and programming techniques you need to know in order to write professional quality Palm applications in C/C++. --Richard Dragan
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Amazon.co.uk
The Palm Pilot series of Personal Digital Assistants are the most popular electronic organiser so far, with a user base of well over a million and growing, so this is a timely book.
It also includes a CD with a trial version of the Palm Software Development Kit, Metrowerk's CodeWarrior Lite kit and all the example code.
CodeWarrior is the preferred Palm development system and most of the examples use it.
The book starts with an overview of the Palm devices, moves on to creating a Hello World program, uses this as a springboard for a discussion of the internal Palm environment and the resources it makes available to the programmer before going on to a more serious example.
Roughly half the book consists of code segments used to create an example sales application which reveals and explains the basics of Palm development. There's also extensive discussion of communications between Palms and Mac, Windows and Linux systems. This takes up much of the rest of the book.
This isn't a title you'll while away winter evenings reading, but it is a title anyone new to the Palm programming environment will want to have close by. Working real world code will take you up the learning curve fast. --Steve Patient
