Customer Reviews

Palm Programming in Basic

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book will give VB programmers a good head start in evaluating three popular (non C) Palm development environments. It is not a reference manual, nor does it delve into the advanced capabilities of the languages. But by using the same example for all three packages, the reader can quickly decide which package he/she is most comfortable with. Kilburn stayed pretty neutral in his approach, which is commendable.

Probably the most common complaint that this book will get is for the lack of the example code on a supporting CD. When I emailed author Jon Kilburn (his email address is in the book) requesting the NS Basic source code he not only got back to me within a few hours but had attached the source code, the raw artwork, the final project, and a letter detailing the NS Basic software version to bring my attention that software updates may have rendered some of the code "old". If I wasn't already going to give it 5 stars, I would for the support alone!

As for covering all the material, none of the NS Basic books out there cover everything in the detail one might hope. That said, "Palm Programming in Basic" by Jon Kilburn and "NS Basic Programming for Palm OS" by Michael J. Verive are by far the two most comprehensive titles for NS Basic programming and, combined, cover all the features in quite a bit of detail. Both have a different style of writing and presenting the information (as well as different examples of code and coding methods) so if you have difficulty grasping one of the authors, jumping to the other will usually provide that breakthrough you're looking for.

The other two references I use the most are the "Palm OS Programming Bible, Second Edition" by Lonnon R. Foster and the NS Basic user group. The Palm Bible covers a lot but is non-NS Basic specific and the user group has hundreds of example projects with descriptions that you can use to jump start your projects.

A Great Way to get going in Mobile Development

With the smart hand-held device space growing at 40% per year it's no wonder the sharp enterprise developers are looking to the mobile space for the next wave of software opportunities. Jon provides an insightful overview of the space and options for implementing mobile applications.

Jon's hard work really shows in the detailed examples and analysis of issues critical for the mobile developers. This book is great for the beginner and experienced Visual Basic developer alike...

Jon's book is an essential reference for programming for the Palm platform. If your serious about programming in this environment, you'll appreciate Jon's professional analysis of three prominent languages. Palm Programming in Basic is an important supplement to the documentation provided with each language, and Jon demonstrates his mastery in the field with this very readable book.

The author provides a fair representation of the subject of programming in Basic using 3 different development environments for the Palm OS. The example GolfPro database program was a good choice for demonstrating various features and techniques, providing a basis for comparison of AppForge, CASL, and NSBasic.

The example code was not supported by a CD, however, as the text suggested, and various inaccuracies required contacting the respective support desks to verify language and interface usage ( there is no 'long' data type in NSBasic, and label controls and arrays in CASL do not operate exactly as suggested in the book). As a result, example programs and code provided was not reliable in producing the results intended.

The tutorials were disjointed at times and difficult to follow. Sometimes critical intervening steps in developing the example program were glossed over or presented out of order. Certainly the book would have benefitted from a companion CD and a more thorough and technical review of the materials before going to press.

Most appreciated was the general layout and subject matter of the book as an introduction to 3 different Palm development environments.

I must say that this book is a little bit disappointing for me.
Looking from its title, I was hoping that I can learn the three offered language, namely NSBasic, AppForge and CASL well from this book. I myself have used these programming languages for some time, but of course I want to know more about them. But what can I get from the book? This book only gives an introduction to these three languages, and it directly implements a Golf application with this language.
So, if you're looking for a specific thing, for instance, how to make an infrared programming or something like that, then just forget about this book.
The book is concluded by a conduit programming, which is a little bit better, I must say, compared to the previous chapters (which take more than 80% of the whole book).
I have to say that the importance of this book will only be 1/3 of its thickness, because everyone will only prefer to stick to one programming language, and it means that only 1/3 of this book is useful.
Moreover, the application is the same and it is written using EXACTLY the same wording. For instance, the golf application, introduction on how to calculate the score, etc. can be written as a separate chapter in the beginning and it doesn't necessary need to be repeated three times in each different language.
On the good side, we can compare the same application written in three different languages.
Finally, I just want to make a comment that if you're serious to study about one of this language, it's better to buy the reference for the language other than collecting a bulky book which you only need 1/3 of it.