Customer Reviews

NS Basic Programming for Palm OS

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a developer for Palm OS devices, I have read just about every book out there on development for the Palm OS platform, I'd recommend this book to anyone just starting out with Palm OS development or experienced developers with VB/C++ experience. From the simple dbOpen() command to advanced techniques, this book will get you through it all. It's also comprehensive; you don't have to know anything about the topic you want to study to learn it quickly and easily. It is no wonder it's approved by NSBasic Corporation. Wonderful and five stars to the author.

Dr. Verive's efforts in NSBasic Programming for Palm OS are well deserved of praise. The biggest challenges a technical author has is finding the right audience to write to and then maintaining the interest of that audience. Dr. Verive has done probably the *most* difficult thing a technical author can do: He has written a book for *all* levels of programmer *and* has written it to keep the interest of the reader, regardless of their technical level.

The book is very well organized so that the experienced programmer can quickly learn the features they need to be proficient in NSBasic/Palm. However the book starts by *also* laying down an excellent foundation for the new programmer. Subjects include programming techniques, and instruction on structured programming.

The accompanying CD is a gold mine with lots of demo code and 'template' applications that you can use as the foundation for your own work.

If you're new to NSBasic programming or just new to programming, get this book, you'll have it sitting at all times right next to your NSBasic Language Reference. The combination of the two books you will find invaluable.

It's worth the asking price. Verive presents the material in a friendly, conversational way. Almost too conversational sometimes, doubling back and changing previous statements. The code provided doesn't exactly match the disc, but you are able to get his intent easily enough. I am a rookie programmer and I ended up forking over the [money] for the full version of NSBasic due to Verive's enthusiasm towards the program. I was able to make a couple semi-complex apps within a few hours of reading the book. Within a couple days I was making some good stuff, using only this book.
This book is a neccesity if you own NSBAsic because it shows how to use the commands and functions not clearly explained in the manual.

I have been programming computers professionally for 20 years. Palm OS is my latest platform. So I willingly became a beginner again. My yearning was to reclaim the old dinosaur days when programming was more fun (at least to me).

So I bought a Palm device, NS Basic, and this book. I was not disappointed. Quite simply, NS Basic Programming for Palm OS (2nd Ed.) is the essential tutorial supplement to the official manual.

To be honest, I believe that this book could help both beginners and veteran re-beginners to make their comfort-zone in the world of Palm OS programming.

The author has a no-stress style that I find appealing being used to the pressures of project deadlines. The examples work well to get more than just the programming language aspects across to the reader. The author helps you along the way with seasonings of un-pretentious humour.

My first "real" Palm project was to write a fun little program to aid one of my children with sums and multiplication. With this book at hand, I had it done in a weekend and the user loves it.

Extra benefit - like the author's style, this book is not a heavy tome. It can be carried and read in the train, bus, in bed etc. without using both hands.

Thumbs-up!

If you are like me and you had a Palm OS based project that you had to get done and needed a great resource to get you up to speed, look no further.

Between the content in this book (which is very well written and easy to understand I might add) and the support that the author himself provides on the NS Basic support web forum, you will get the information you need to get your project done.

While I haven't reviewed every book out there on this topic, I can't help but think that you'd be making a critical mistake to pass this one up.

If you've ever thought about programming your PalmOS device, this book and a copy of NSBasic for PalmOS can get you going in no time at all. This book is very well laid out, features a CD-ROM with many of the example programs already typed in, and it is easy to read. My only beef is that it should have a spiral bound binding like the NSBasic manual so you can lay it out flat in front of your PC.