Customer Reviews

Palm Programming for the Absolute Beginner w/CD

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read a prerelease version, and thought it was excellent. This book is, as it's titled, for absolute beginners. For that audience, I think it works very well to teach PocketC, which is not C. Most programming environments for the Palm are not for beginners. The book is clear, simple, entertaining, and gets the reader to the point where satisfying useful and interesting programs can be written for an inexpensive computer. To rapidly get into programming, with some coverage of most procedural (not object-oriented) programming topics, this book and PocketC are a great combination. Topics covered include program flow, databases, and graphics including images and the user interface. Generally these are discussed in a game context, but skills acquired are clearly applicable to other programs.

Potential buyers should understand that pocketC is not C. Close to a subset of C, it is in fact easier for beginners since it has automatic type conversions and a useful set of simple palm-specific functions. Code can be written and compiled on either the desktop or the Palm device itself. C programmers will miss structures most. It is also slow, but this deficiency is attenuated by the applicability of native libraries such as the excellent and free PToolbox, covered in the book.

The book's major shortcoming derives from PocketC as a moving target: the language and PToolbox were both updated shortly after release. However, this book should prepare the reader to understand those extensions, as well as the orbworks forum (cited) where questions on PocketC can be placed and answered. The major change is to PToolbox, which now can replace CControls.

One _can_ make standalone prc files with PocketC, however that's not always a good idea, since programs take up much less space if you don't. (And prc files must be made on the desktop, not the palm.)

As a casual programmer who normally uses C++, I find myself programming in PocketC because the ability to program on the Palm device lets me use odd bits of time. The skills developed on this platform are transferrable to others. If you are a beginner, and want to program the palm, I don't think you can find a better place to start.

A Little Bit of Background about PocketC: PocketC was developed by Jeremy Dewey to allow the programmer to develop Palm PDA applications using the C language. He designed PocketC so that the programmer can design, code, and run the C programs using only the PDA. Although PocketC is a great development tool, there were no programming books that explained PocketC in detail - until now!

And Now the Book! - I bought this book to be used as a reference book since this is the first book that I have found on PocketC development. Boy, what a goldmine! Andy Harris has done an excellent job in presenting application examples and detailed explanations on how he uses the PocketC commands and functions to develop the application examples. If you are new to the C language or to Palm programming then this book will help you master both. Andy takes his time in teaching you how to use PocketC to program your Palm PDA. Each chapter builds on the knowledge that you learned from the previous chapter and his style of writing will not bore you to death. Also, everything is included on the CD-ROM to get you programming as soon as possible!

I highly recommend it for the beginner or veteran!

I have dabbled in programming since the 1970's, starting out with Radio Shack's Color Computer and their guide to Basic Programming. Over the years I have bought a bookshelf full of programming books and guides and this is one of the best ones I have seen.

It is written in great detail and every new concept and line of code is explained in an interesting, easy to grasp way. Program examples are for the most part based on progarmming games and "fun" type projects to keep you interested, but the book also gets into more serious topics as well.

The book teaches the Pocket C language. Pocket C is not standard ANSI C. I've seen a few negative comments to that effect, but I really don't consider it a negative. Pocket C is written specifically for use on Palms and has many built in functions that greatly simplify writing the programs. it is also a very compact and easy to understand language. Although in itself, it is not a "Visual" environment, there are several third party form design tools available when you prograss to the point of needing them. In my opinion you are better off concentrating on learning the programming syntax and commands first when learning a new language, or learning to program for the first time, rather than starting out with an interface that atttempts to do so many things for you. You need to have a good enough understanding of the nuts and bolts of your chosen programming language to do the coding manually, even if later on you use a more advanced rapid application development environment. This book does that..it gives you a good grounding in the basic concepts of programming that apply to Pocket C as well as whatever other language you might choose to learn.

Even if you choose to migrate to another language like C++, the concepts you learn with Pocket C will still be valid, and the language is similar enough that you will have an easier time learning that if you started out there to begin with.

I would highly recommend getting the Desktop edition of Pocket C from Orbworks and the Palm Emulator from Palm to write and test you programs. You will need the registered version of the Desktop edition (called PDE) pretty quickly into the book as the demo will only create projects of a very limited size.

The book comes with limited or demo versions of Pocket C, the pde and several third party products such as form builders, etc. The Cd also has the Palm Emulator, but due to licensing restrictions does not include the necessary ROM files for it to operate. These can be downloaded free from Palm by filling out a non disclosure agreement and signing up as a developer, which is also free. This is the case with ALL programming systems for Palm, not just this one.

If you are going to order the book, you need to go ahead and fill out the forms on the Palm developers website as it takes a day or two for them to approve your NDA agreement and give you access to the ROM files.

It would probably also be wise to check the net for new versions of any of the software included on the Cd with the book as new versions are released often and the CD's tend to get "stale" pretty quick.

As in most programming guides, I have found a couple of minor typos, but nothing serious enough to create a real problem.

I would suggest that you actually type in the programming examples in the book, as opposed to loading the source code from the CD...even though your fingers will get a little workout, it is probably the best way to commit the language to your memory.

To sum it up, I would recommend this and any of the other "Absolute Beginners" guides to programming to any programming beginner, or even somewhat experienced programmer learning a new language.

Yes, PocketC is a nice productive development environment for Palm - but it is based on a proprietary hybrid of the C language - and the whole book is centered around this specific development environment - if you think the book will cover standard c/c++ (e.g. using the gnu C++ compiler), you're in for a shock! Also, you have to BUY PocketC after 45 days, because it is shareware - the standard development environment offered by Palm (based on the Eclipse integrated environment & gnu c++) is FREE

This book does not make clear on its cover that it teaches you to write applets, *not* standard Palm applications.

What is far worse, is that it claims it includes all the tools necessary to use the book. However, the desktop compiler refuses to work on any of the source after chapter 1 (it only supports code up to 768 characters). In order to complete the examples in the book, you must either purchase the full version (at least [more money]) of PDE, or write and compile everything on your palm top.

Many other reviewers of this product apperently have been programming for a long time, and have purchased PDE already. They fail to note that the true cost of this book is [a little more] (after purchasing the full version of PDE).

The book appears to be good, but this is dishonest marketing.

PocketC is an excellent programming platform for Palm devices. I have used it to create simple programs, and it turns out, with little more care, can be used to create professional quality programs. This book does not show you how to create professional quality programs with PocketC. However, it is a good book to start if you want to learn programming in your own time.

Personally, I find the program samples rather useless, and not at all fun. Perhaps better examples should have been used. Watch out for amateurish code! Plenty of them peppers the examples. Most annoying is rectangles intersection code. The author admits it is faulty, and instead of fixing it, provides excuses for it. Why didn't he ask his smart programmer friend on how to fix it? It's not a hard problem. Some of the slowness of the code may stem from the way CControls works, so you may do better providing your own code. A reading of Algorithm by Robert Sedgewick can prove useful.

Good points: Easy reading, accessible for beginners. Good PocketC packages. STAIR principle.

Bad points: Amateurish code. Lots of space padding pictures. Not all examples are useful program.

The previous reviewer is mistaken, stand-alone applications can be created with the desktop version of PocketC. This is a great book for the beginning programmer!

I bought this book somewhat recently, and I must say that it's quite a good book. Whether you are a seasoned programmer that is new to Palm programming, or a completely new programmer that has never programmed before, you will find this book is worth its value. It describes the basics to the newcomer in programming (Which is what seasoned programmers may want to skim over), and then hops over to more advanced topics such as how to use a graphics library (PToolboxLib) to create graphics and games on your Palm.

The fact that it uses PocketC and PocketC Desktop Edition (PDE) does *not* mean it is a marketing tool...... This is true because:
1). PocketC is indeed one the few great programming tools out there.
2). The author himself is not going to create a programming tool like PocketC, so he had to find it necessary to use what is already out there.
3). You are not forced to use PocketC. In fact, the book already comes with a 30 day trial of it, so you can try it before you buy it if you so desire. This allows you to program all the samples in the book, and then buy PocketC if you want, or buy a different tool.

Enough about the marketing bit. The book alone is enough to get you well into Palm programming, and I found it such a great book that I may very well want to spend even more money on this hobby of mine.

I had never done any C programming before buying this book. I had done some basic in high school and arexx after but had never progressed beyond hello world in C. Granted PocketC is not "real" C, but when I comes to getting an idea from your head to your palm it fits the bill almost perfectly. You are introduced to all the basics of working with pocketC in this book. Unfortunately it does not really cover the PDE version. If you read all the documentation that comes with the program and the parts of PToolBoxLib that you will need though, the total becomes more than a sum of its parts. In less than a month I had the basic understanding of how to go from an idea to a working project and would not have made it without this book. If you couple it with a standard text on C you will be able to work through most of your problems. It is to be noted though, that pocketC apps are kind of slow. But I think the upside more than offsets the downside.

I started programming in C when I was 12 and installed NetBSD when I was 14 and started programming console apps for BSD(I'm now 20). I stopped programming when I was 16 and started up again. The palm has started my desire to develop again. I fired up Metrowerks for Palm the other day and I could barely write a "Hello World" program. I then picked up this book and it is great. It teaches you how to write games, databases, you name it. I've read many palm books and by far if you were clueless like me then this book is for you. This book uses PocketC as its dev environment of choice. PocketC is a great tool to learn with. Get this as your first palm programming book.