(If you give a short reply to this, be kind and remove the [long] from the
subject :)
On December 9, 2002 08:27 pm, Micholi Chaikin wrote:
> Sorry, I am new at this. What is API? (I presume UI means user
> interface?) :-)
API = Application Programming Interface
UI = User Interface (but you already knew that ;)
IDE = Integrated Development Environment
OS = Operating System (but you knew that too, right? ;)
An API is a set of calls to make the OS do something. I have a several
thousand page book (it's heavy as hell) on the Windows API, and the PalmOS
API is much nicer (available in a book, online, and as a download).
An IDE is the environment you use to write your code, compile your code, and
in some cases test it. Borland makes ones for DOS/Windows, Metrowerks makes
ones for pretty much everything. Microsoft tries, but even money can't fix
all problems ^_^; (You don't want to know how many millions of dollars they
spent on Windows Media Player, and it still sucks compared to free
alternatives).
Taking the example of the Metrowerks IDE, it has several components - an
editor with syntax highlighting (turns keywords blue, comments grey, etc.), a
compiler and linker (turns your code from text into code the computer can
read), a debugger (shows you variables as your program runs, etc.), and a
resource editor (allows you to easily design forms, make bitmaps and icons,
etc.). It is a complete package with everything you need to write PalmOS (or
Macintosh, or Windows) programs.
A tool like GCC (PRC-Tools) has the tools you need (GCC to compile, PRC-Tools
to link, PilRC to make resources, GDB to debug) but not on one coherent
package. Also, you need to pick an editor on your own ;P The PRC-Tools set
of packages require you to type commands or write special control files
(called Makefiles) to compile your resources, source code, and link them
together. There is no user-interface to most of it. PilRC is the exception,
with several good (free) tools available for you to design forms and such,
without having to write the position of things in text form.
> > AppForge is the only IDE that uses Visual Basic for the Palm.
^ one of
Yeah, typo there, sorry.
> There is also something called NSBasic (www.nsbasic.com) -
> using the BASIC sytnax. Is that not an IDE or is it not Visual Basics?
Take the S off of that, and it works ;P I have to admit, NSBasic looks good.
It seems, however, that is standard BASIC, not Visual Basic in structure.
I feel that BASIC is a bit of a kludge (i.e. poor choice) of a language for
very small devices. Requiring a ~100K (99594 byte) runtime module is
counter-productive. I can write any program in C that can be written in
BASIC, without the runtime. My programs will always be 100K smaller than
BASIC ones (size taken from NSBRuntime)... my predigeses are well known,
however. ;-)
> > Also, PalmOS is event driven. Period.
>
> The reason I asked was because I found something called PocketC
> (www.orbworks.com) which is not ~ it uses events but you have
> to keep checking for them; e.g while...switch(event(0)) etc.
That -is- the way you have to check them. You call EvtGetEvent, and the
structure it hands back to you is an event. You then use a switch statement
to see if you are handling that event, and if so, do something.
> OrbForms (www.orbworks.com)
It looks surprisingly like... Visual Basic, for C. It still uses a runtime
module - and there is no excuse for that when you use C. It also seems to be
a subset of C (OC?)...
> PDA Toolbox (www.PDAToolbox.com)
This website, er, needs improvement. Ah! After seeing the screenshots I
finally remember. I attempted to use this software in the past, and though
they may have improved it since then, I highly suggest you avoid this one.
The UI designer is misleading (i.e. shows things wrongly) but would probably
be the quickest solution if you wanted to make a database application.
> Visual Form Designer (www.vfdide.com)
*shudder* This looks alarmingly like Windows on the Palm, but still uses C.
CodeWarrior beats this one down in terms of user interface.
> NS Basics (www.nsbasics.com)
Read above ;P
> AppForg[e] (www.appforge.com)
Very professional looking, and uses VB structure. If I was to recommend a
BASIC product (which I'm not ;) I'd go with this one.
--
Matthew (Darkstorm) Bevan [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Margin Software, NECTI. http://www.marginsoftware.com
Re-inventing the wheel, every time.
- Nature is by and large to be found out of doors, a location where, it
cannot be argued, there are never enough comfortable chairs.
-- Fran Leibowitz
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