Professional Java Mobile Programming [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Ronald Ashri (Author), Danny Ayers (Author), Steve Atkinson (Author), Nadia Nashi (Author), Richard Taylor (Author), Chanoch Wiggers (Author)

Book Description

Series: Programmer to Programmer | Publication Date: July 2001

J2ME is an exciting set of technologies that provide integration of Java with wireless devices, and bring Java back to its design roots. Wireless device types, operating systems, and networks will proliferate, but Java provides a unifying programming platform for these devices.

The potential of a flexible and secure run-time environment on these new devices is immense. Mobile code, context or location-sensitive web-based services, and inter-device communication are all possible between differing devices.

The recognition that 'one size doesn't fit all', however, and the resulting introduction of configurations and profiles, is confusing. Java is still 'write once, test everywhere,' in developers' minds. This book answers in one volume the need for a detailed examination of the differences and similarities between implementations of J2ME.

Currently, deployable context based services are only possible through WAP. The book covers this exciting new area of providing location-based services.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For any developer writing mobile applications on the Java platform, from smart cards to pagers to PDAs, Professional Java Mobile Programming provides both a "big picture" perspective on Java running on all these platforms, as well as some practical detail on the APIs and design strategies you'll need to get started.

This book's principal strength is probably its complete coverage of mobile Java's possibilities. From tiny smart cards to Java-aware phones to pagers and even full-fledged PDAs, the authors cover the dizzying array of acronyms involved in the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME). The actual source code here concentrates on two flavors (called profiles) of J2ME: the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), for PDAs, and the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), for pagers. To this end, this text covers both high-level controls available on the MIDP platform, and then lower-level graphical calls. They provide a case study for a contact manager then port it to the more restricted form factor of the CLDC standard.

Coverage of smart card programming will help get you started there. Smart cards have just a few bytes of memory, so programming them requires a very different mindset, and this text shows you how to work with these devices. Coverage of additional abilities in mobile Java from the Java Message Service (JMS) and telephony APIs rounds out the text. The authors anchor their sometimes wide-ranging discussion with some larger case studies, including a Towers of Hanoi simulation and a mobile application that uses global positioning information.

Later samples integrate mobile applications into the larger J2EE platform on the server-side. The code here mixes in technologies like servlets, EJBs, XML, and XSLT with mobile user interfaces. A discussion of the software design process geared toward mobile development closes out this book. Useful reference sections compare the MIDP and CLDC APIs, as well as listing all available classes and methods in each.

Though this text at times adopts a somewhat scattershot approach in its organization, its overall coverage of the rich possibilities of today's different mobile Java standards will help make it a useful resource for understanding what Java has to offer when it comes to mobile computing. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Introduction to the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), current J2ME implementations: the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) and the K Virtual Machine (KVM), the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) profile; overview of mobile and wireless networking standards (including Bluetooth and 802.11), designing J2ME software (including architecture and use cases), CDC and the Foundation Profile (supported classes), programming with sockets and POP3 in CDC (basic e-mail), comparison of various J2ME profiles, high-level APIs for controls in CLDC, low-level graphics APIs for CLDC apps, the MIDP record management system, networking, using timers, downloading images, a sample case study for a contact database mobile application in MIDP (and a CDC/CLDC version), synchronization between mobile devices and desktops (a custom protocol and SyncML), the JavaPhone API (architecture and programming concepts), writing smart card applications (including the Java Card Development Kit), integrating mobile devices and J2EE servlet Web applications (downloading a file via a servlet), asynchronous message and the Java Message Service (JMS), case studies for a mobile version of the Towers of Hanoi problem, an expert system and mobile positioning; security issues for mobile devices and systems, overview of the software design process for mobile devices, reference with a comparison of mobile device APIs, and API listing for CLDC and MIDP classes and methods.

From the Publisher

This book is for corporate developers who need to extend enterprise applications to serve mobile devices and for developers who need to get up to speed on this new technology quickly. This book gives you examples of how this is done using Java APIs, ranging from servlets, MIDP, the JavaCard SDK, JavaPhone and others.

This book covers:
Java 2 Micro Edition, KVM and its profiles and configurations
KVM on the Palm - the hit of 2001 JavaOne
Cross-platform code for mobile devices including coverage of: javacard; javaphone; CDC and Foundation Profile; CLDC and MIDP Profile

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1000 pages
• Publisher: Peer Information Inc.; 1st edition (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861003897
• ISBN-13: 978-1861003898
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,455,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm originally from the UK but now live in rural Italy, with two dogs and two cats.

I generally do independent Web research and development, in particular things related to Linked Data and the Semantic Web.

Outside of tech stuff I like woodcarving - bit of a medieval throwback really...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't expect too much on this book, August 16, 2001

By 

Leo Chan Wing Ko (Hong Kong Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Professional Java Mobile Programming (Paperback)

If you are a developer and eager to find resource on Java Mobile development, this book must disappoint you. This book just give you a general java mobile concept. May be this technology is too green so that all topics are not in depth to discuss with very limited examples.

The worse of this book is some examples just show the source code only with no any demonstration of the program running or even the complied result and that made people hard to understand what the source code mean.

If you see the content that this book cover MIDP for Palm. Don't believe this, this book is only cover the early stage of java KVM in Palm but not included the current Sun MIDP for Palm OS

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great coverage and good case studies, December 8, 2002

By 

"cogito512" (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Professional Java Mobile Programming (Paperback)

I found this book very useful for getting to grips with the wide range of technologies available for Java platform on mobile devices. It's strong point is the breadth of subjects covered and not the depth. However, if like me, you prefer to get on to a quick start and the get deeper into the subject on a "as needed" basis this book will provide it. It got me up to date and able to continue on my own from the first three chapters.
If you are already an experienced J2ME developer then the case studies will show how others have tackled some J2ME problems. If you are a beginner then you will get a complete treatment of the range of technologies.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a Lousy Book!!!, January 2, 2002

By 

Shih Chia Cheng "Jacob Cheng" (Taipei Taiwan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional Java Mobile Programming (Paperback)

This is the worst book I have read so far. There are so many errors in the book! And all descriptions about J2ME are vague. It's really a pity that I spent my money on this useless book.
Don't buy this book!!!