Customer Reviews

Professional Symbian Programming: Mobile Solutions on the EPOC Platform

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was so pleased to find a book which at last covers the EPOC platform in such detail! I have a number of Wrox books and I know that they're nearly always on the cutting edge of new technologies. This book is an absolute must for anyone wanting to be on the fore-front of mobile technology. It is written in a way that is instructive without being patronising. The authors obviously know their stuff and this comes accross very well in the book. I would reccommend this book to all and everyone!

There are only a handful of Symbian books available yet, and this one is the best of them. It is not a tutorial but a fairly good reference. It does a good job of explaining concepts as well, for instance I really like the discussion of descriptors in chapter 5.

Those who have no Symbian background will find this book difficult (not because the book is badly written, but because Symbian is a very different platform). I recommend that beginners read documentation and whitepapers available at Symbian's website, take an introductory class and then buy this book for reference. Dont try to learn Symbian programming from this book. You'll be disappointed.

I also think that the authors should revisit and work on a new edition of this useful book. There has been an addition of many new topics since R5, that require good reference material - authors could do the Symbian community a favor by providing that much needed reference material.

This book deserves 3.5 stars now - and if the authors release a new edition, it will get 5 stars from me.

First, I should state that I know the author. I better say that in case anyone believes my guilty of bias. However, it must be realised that this book is an official Symbian publication, and as such is the definitive reference book on programming for EPOC devices. Personally I think Martin has done a remarkable job putting all this together. As an ex-Symbian employee I have not done any coding since the early development days of the Psion Series 5.

Recently I have needed to get up to date and get coding again. On a brand new PC, with no EPOC utilities on it, with the help of this book and its accompanying CD (which contains ALL of the official Symbian Software Development Kits), I had genuine freshly-compiled programs running on my Psion Series 5mx PDA within MINUTES. Martins writing style is very accessible, and explains the advanced concepts behind EPOC in a manner in which anyone can quickly understand them.

As an aside, the book is deliberately written so that it does NOT have to be read sitting in front of a computer. As a result, this book makes a fantastic tutorial, as it can be read on the train, in the bath, anywhere when you might have a few minutes spare.

A "must buy" for any individual or company considering programming in C++ any EPOC devices (which will in the near future include both PDA's and mobile phones). Well done Martin!

As an introduction to programming on the Symbian platform this book is excellent. If you require detailed information on C++ EPOC programming then it may appear a bit sparse. You can get the required information from Symbian/Psion directly. If you wish to start programming on this platform then this is a great introduction. After reading it you will be able to make the most of the detailed information from Symbian themselves.

Even as a professional software engineer, I found this book poorly organized and terribly written with numerous forgettable tangents on the history of EPOC, lousy application implementation guidance (even if you can get the examples to work), and a structure that assumes that you are reading the book front to back (remember - this is over 1000 pages). So, get ready for a few nights burning the midnight oil. The installation CD is truly a hacked together job. And don't plan on using the book as a reference for any EPOC Java work - it treats Java implementations as a minor afterthought. I hope the authors produced better documentation for their solutions than they did for this book. Save your hard-earned money.

I recommend this book to anybody who's interested in Symbian development. It's a very thorough material, you can not only begin to deal with EPOC with the help of this book, but get useful help when you're a professional. Though some information is a little bit outdated, it's still the best book I've ever read about Symbian OS.

One of few books on Symbain. The programming is very easy and this book takes you from beginner to advance.

The best part for me is Part three of the book, it presents a realistic implementation of Battleship game using client server, it covers all the interesting aspects in a very clear and incremental manner.

Chapter 18 is paricularly good, it starts from a very simple active object, explains how it works, then moves on to the pattern, also explains why he favors one approach over the other, the mistake he made etc.

Part Three - Communications and Systems Programming
Chapter 16 - Communications and Systems Programming
Chapter 17 - The Transaction-oriented Games Stack
Chapter 18 - Active Objects
Chapter 19 - Client-server Framework
Chapter 20 - The GSDP Server
Chapter 21 - GDP Implementations
Chapter 22 - Full Battleships

My company is working on software for the handset manufactures that are using the Symbian OS. We will now most likely miss our deadlines due to a very buggy OS and the worst documentation I have ever seen in 20 years of being in the industry. This book couldn't be more scatter-brained if they tried. There are some great bits and pieces here and there, but you have to find them. The worst part about this book is the fact that this is the only one there is. The handset manufacture is even reconsidering taking Symbian off their handsets all together. These guys better get their act together.

For the time being it's the ONLY book available for those who want to program for EPOC platform. It gives a lot of information on the subject covered.