My 2 cents: I think the Palm platform has good tools and Great
documentation (I think some of the best in the business). Where I see
people having problems:
- It's embedded system programming at its heart - you have to program with
a scarcity mentality and/or do tricks to overcome the limitations (such as
reorganizing code/grouping into segments, etc.)
- It's event driven programming - all the C programming books teach you how
to do traditional procedural programming. If that's your mentality then
it's a paradigm shift you have to overcome.
I've read Petzold's book on Windows programming, it's great. I think that
the Rhodes book is pretty close, and Bachmann's book is also quite
good. The "Palm OS Programming for Dummies" book isn't bad, either.
At 03:30 AM 12/11/99 -0500, you wrote:
>On 11-Dec-99 Matt Mason wrote:
>
> > So there! Good tools and GREAT documentation make a platform successful.
> > There are already plenty of good ideas for this platform, but programming
> > here still sucks!
>
>I find it difficult to believe that anyone would have problems finding PalmOS
>programming documentation. It really is a very open system and the SDK
>manuals are 99.9% complete IMO. I do have a couple of books as well, but to
>be honest I have barely touched them. The PalmOS API is so darned simplistic
>that it becomes second nature, it's as if "less is more" is the motto with
>the device _and_ the API.
>
>Yes, I agree programming with PalmOS and C is very different from a setup
>like VB. But you will learn to appreciate some wonderful qualities when your
>project is in the testing and QA stage. Using the PalmOS Emulator (POSE) you
>can simulate truly torturous conditions and exercise nearly 100% of the
>operation of your programs. And when they fail (for whatever reasons) you
>can reproduce the conditions post-mortem and trace through your code to fix
>the problem.
>
>Without getting too teary-eyed, I feel like I've really found my stride in
>developing software for this device. It has just the right amount of design
>guidelines (i.e. how to layout screens effectively) and a compact enough API
>so you don't feel the need for any abstraction layers. But it's the
>satisfaction you get at hitting 2 million gremlins that'll put hair on your
>chest :)
>
>I do think however that a largish part of the "happy" programmers for this
>device were of the home computer generation. Myself it was the TI-99 but I'm
>sure there are a gazillion C64, Atari, ZX81, NEC, Apple IIe developers that
>are getting their second wind on these devices. Okay everyone, let's all
>port our 16 year old programs!
>
>
>/* Chris Faherty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, finger for PGP */
----
Tom Frauenhofer, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one place.
Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com
