Customer Reviews

Palm OS Programming Bible (With CD-ROM)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While large, this book does not waste space. It covers pretty much everything PalmOS, starting with an overview of the system architecture, moving on to the basics of development such as forms, menus, resources, the event loop, the core API, database access, and common conventions, and then touching upon advanced topics such as beaming, synchronization, conduits, networking, Palm.Net-style wireless connectivity, and color extensions.

What this book most emphatically does NOT do is teach the C programming language. Substantial competence in C programming is simply assumed, and some experience in another event-driven programming environment (such as Microsoft Windows or IBM OS/2 Presentation Manager) would be undeniably helpful. The ideal reader for this book would be a Windows programmer used to C and C++ who is looking to do work on Palm OS, but who has no knowledge of PalmOS beyond operating the date book, address book, and memo pad.

What especially distinguishes and recommends this book is that it seems to be the only one which takes seriously the freeware tools for PalmOS development, the PRC-Tools for GNU C and the PilRC resource compiler. Probably 95% of real development uses the freeware tools, for obvious reasons, and their quality is regarded as so high that they are officially supported by Palm Computing. And, while PilRC is an excellent quality product in itself, there is no getting around the fact that its documentation could be greatly improved, so this book fills a crying need.

The CD which comes with the book is probably no more useless than the usual CD which comes with a book like this. I doubt there is anything on it which could not simply be downloaded from the Internet, but the inclusion of PRC-Tools, an 8MB compressed installer for the Windows version, makes it somewhat worthwhile. Of the 88MB on the CD, a great deal of it is taken up by rather unexciting things such as Unix and Windows distributions of Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader (15MB combined), a trial copy of WinZip (1.3MB), SDKs for truly obscure pieces of hardware such as SPT bar code scanners (19MB), the TRGpro (1.5MB), the Qualcomm/Kyocera pdQ cellular telephone (0.5MB), and so on. Much of the rest of what is on the disk consists of easily downloaded time-limited or crippled evaluation versions of PalmOS development tools or aids. Unforgiveable, however, is the apparent omission (contrary to the text of the book) of the PilRC freeware resource compiler; fortunately, this is easy to download from the Internet and quite small (about 0.3MB). The inclusion of the freeware POSE emulator would also have been a good idea, but it is missing also.

Much of the back of the book is devoted to references to the PalmOS API and other information to which a programmer would repeatedly refer, and this is valuable because, as far as I know, Palm distributes this information only in PDF electronic form. Some people like PDF and other people hate it, but having it on hardcopy in book form makes it easier for me. Indeed, a significant amount of this book trods the same ground as some of the more important PDF documents from Palm, most notably the "Palm OS Companion" (2.5MB) and "Palm OS Reference" (8.3MB) -- both of which should have been on the companion CD but are not.

Overall, the wide scope of this book makes it the top choice for the experienced C or C++ developer who is starting at absolute square one with PalmOS. There are alternative languages discussed and a few evaluation versions of compilers and interpreters for other languages on the CD, but the fact is that nearly all serious PalmOS development is done in C/C++, the best tools are all available for C/C++, and the book assumes you are working in C/C++. Although the thoroughness and clarity of the writing would make this book useful even to someone working in a language other than C/C++, probably half of the book would be incomprehensible to a programmer unfamiliar with C/C++. If C/C++ implies "expert" or, even worse, "above my head" to you, then this book probably would be a mistake. On the other hand, if you know C/C++, and especially if you know it in the context of Windows programming, then this is by far the best book for you.

I don't know how to review this book other than to say that I'd rate it a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 and the best of the other Palm programming books would get a 6. If you already know how to program in C and you have either CodeWarrior or the Palm GCC tools (the book does a good job of covering both, despite what the previous review said), this is the only book you'll need to buy. Why? Plenty of explanations, lots of sample code, and an easy-to-read writing style make this book not only useful, but enjoyable as well. It's not perfect (the author fails to mention, for example, that an Edit menu with ID of 10000 will be automatically handled for you by the OS...instead he writes his own Edit menu handler) but the faults are few and far between. The bottom line? If you're serious about Palm programming, this book is an excellent, must-have investment.

This book has a great deal of info and is a gfreat reference but it is too large to be used as a tutorial. It covers conduit programming in depth and is the first book that I've seen with clear explanations of the free development tools such as PILRC and GCC. It also explains Code Warrior. I own several Palm programming books and this one has come in useful as a reference. I used this one several times to look this up with good results. Its worth buying. "Palm OS from the Ground UP" makes a good tutorial book.

I've reviewed and own several palm programming books. I didnt want a book where I read from cover to cover. I wanted info on specific bits. I got it from this book. The info it presents it does quite well. Its more biased to CodeWarrior than GCC PRC-Tools.

The cd presents its example code (what little there is) in both CW and GCC versions.

The cd is garbage, sharware junk. It does contain PRC-Tools but no working SDK.... which you still need to download.

The book covers various topics well and its interesting read without getting too bored.

There is no info on doing graphics of any kind.

Well done. I'm at page 300 and am very impressed. While giving a great description of PalmOS and the associated development tools, Mr. Foster also points out programming hazards due to such things as the occasional ambiguous PalmOS function name, the occasional inconsistency in certain Get and Set function arguments, and the overflow dangers of certain controls. I also like that he gives the GNU development tools their fair share of description, acknowledgement, and appreciation. At 900 pages, you might think this book is full of the typical technical reference filler. Not so! Mr. Foster, Bravo!

If you're a beginner, beware: the Bible won't walk you through some of the basic stuff you want to know. The basic samples, etc., are actually pretty advanced. I still give this book a high rating since it contains more detail--and is more up to date--than the other five I've bought. If you are developing your first Palm OS app, make sure you have this--but you should expect to create your own sample app using the book's general priniciples first.

A great reference book, the Palm OS Bible covers areas such specialized topics as conduits, IrDA, and color. It's not for a beginner (I recommend Programming the Palm OS - From the Ground Up) since it isn't really in tutorial or walk-through format, but it is definitely a book that every Palm OS developer should have on the shelf.

The PalmOS Bible really addresses development with the GNU tools like no other book. I use an alternative IDE called vfdide that is based on the GNU tools and this book really gave me the extra programming tips I needed. It is very easy to sit down and read this book. At 893 pages it can seem intimidating but it really is written in English. I should stress this is not a beginner book but it is a fantastic addition to my bookshelf. I'm at page 200+ and this book has already paid for itself and is working on paying for some of my other Palm Programming books in over all value.

This is a very good book if you're just starting out with PalmOS programming, but not if you're completely new to programming period. You should definitely be familiar with C before reading this book. Provides fairly good coverage of the PalmOS memory architecture, and what not to do. Could be a little more thorough when it comes to programming UI elements though. Coverage is split between Codewarrior and PRC tools, but could be better on the PRC tools. I don't know that I would call it a bible though. The PalmOS function reference section is kind of small, and doesn't describe the function calls very thoroughly. But I suspect that if it did, the book would be twice as large as it is.

All in all, it's a good introductory book to learn from. Veterans PalmOS programmers probably might want to look elsewhere.

This book is one of the best palm references around. In addition to being packed with information, its realitivly easy to read, and after you have read it its easy to use as a reference. While there is not detailed information about each and every data type (struct) this information is readily avaliable in the SDK so its not really necessary to reproduce in the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Palm OS programming.