Palm Programming in Basic [Paperback]

Jon Kilburn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 2002 | Series: Expert's Voice

Palm Programming in Basic provides a foundation upon which programmers can develop applications for the Palm OS with very little knowledge of the OS itself. It is a comprehensive reference that gets professional programmers up to speed on AppForge, NS Basic, and CASL. The author, Jon Kilburn, shares his vast experience as a developer of dozens of applications for Palm OS in presenting the Palm programming strategies contained in this book.

Kilburn clearly explains how to structure programs for Palm devices and how to develop conduits for passing information between PC desktops and Palm devices, and reviews the conduit tools available to developers. Palm Programming in Basic also includes a guide to developing Web Clipping applications, an overview of Palm utilities that all programmers can use, and an appendix on performing data compression.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jon Kilburn graduated from Pennsylvania State University and has been actively involved in the programming community since 1988. He has written articles and taught seminars all over the world and is editor of Pinnacle's PDA Developer newsletter. Jon is president of Vivid Software, a Texas-based consulting firm that specializes in creating Internet solutions that use Visual Basic and SQL Server.

Product Details

• Paperback: 275 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (January 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893115496
• ISBN-13: 978-1893115491
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,768,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for beginner programmers to the Palm OS, March 3, 2002

By 

John Vaccaro (Thonotosassa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Palm Programming in Basic (Paperback)

As the owner of a software company that recently began programming in the PDA market, I was hard pressed to find a book that dealt with programming for the Palm that was neither based on the C language or written for an engineer. Kilburn's book was our oasis. It is straight forward, easy to understand, and does not confuse the beginner with advanced topics as do other programming books that I have seen. The book is well written and presented in such a manner that the reader can make an intelligent decission on which of the three development tools described in the book is best suited for them, without bias of one product over another.

For experienced programmers wanting to develop software for the Palm OS platform, this book will help them decide which tool is best suited for their needs. For the beginning programmer or hobbyist, Kilburn kept the code examples simple and easy to follow. My employees that read this book gave it a thumbs up. I would recommend this book to anyone that is getting started in programming for the Palm OS platform.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another great tool for the Basic Programmer's Tool Box, March 3, 2002

By 

James Springer (Shreveport, LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Palm Programming in Basic (Paperback)

This book is a welcome addition to my growing collection of programming reference manuals. Until recently, Palm Programming has been almost entirely relegated to the land of C and C++ Programmers. If you're a Basic Programmer, crossing the hurdle of leaning "C" is a difficult task. This book details three of the most popular SDK's for the Palm OS. AppForge, NSBasic and CASL. All use a Basic like syntax. I've found the help and reference documentation included with these SDK's less than adequate. The authors detailed examples and many code snippets fill that gap and in my opinion make this book a keeper.

Regardless which of the three development languages you are using , you'll find yourself reaching time and again for this handy reference guide. You'll more than get your money's worth from this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Foundation, March 1, 2002

By 

MarkC (Cornelius, OR USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Palm Programming in Basic (Paperback)

I develop in both AppForge & NSBasic. I found this book to be a great foundation book and filled in some gaps I had in understanding Palm programming and using these tools. His piece on creatively using Grids in AppForge to simulate a dynamic array was worth the price of the book for me. It solved a nagging headache for me and gave me a number of ideas on how to use Grids in creative ways. His chapter on Conduits helped the light to go on for me. It also let me compare AppForge, NSBasic, and CASL in an apples-to-apples comparison, showing each ones strengths (and weaknesses). This is not an in-depth 'Bible' and doesn't claim to be. I look forward to an in-depth book focused on the individual languages and hope someone comes up with one.