Symbian App Development

Hi,
Having got a new N70 i am interesting in writting a couple of apps
myself can anyone recommend a good development enviroment andand good
websitest o give me an intro in to symbian

Thanks

Mike

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 09:14:23 -0000, "Mike Stewart"
<michaelNo.J.SpamStewart@baesystesm.com> wrote:

> Having got a new N70 i am interesting in writting a couple of apps
>myself can anyone recommend a good development enviroment andand good
>websitest o give me an intro in to symbian
>
As you have a Nokia, start with their developer forum:
http://www.forum.nokia.com/main.html

(All the major phone manufacturers have a similar forum)

Then you need to select a Java development environment. There are
commerciol ones; whilst a popular open source one is Eclipse:
http://www.eclipse.org/projects/index.php

The actual MicroJava implementation & development kits are here:
http://java.sun.com/products/midp/
Whilst there is a more generic portal, including tutorials, here:
http://www.microjava.com/

Kit

"Mike Stewart" <michaelNo.J.SpamStewart@baesystesm.com> wrote in message
news:439fdfd4$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> Hi,
> Having got a new N70 i am interesting in writting a couple of apps
> myself can anyone recommend a good development enviroment andand good
> websitest o give me an intro in to symbian
>
> Thanks
>
> Mike
>
>

Have you programmed Java stuff before?

yep my uni degree was largely Java based, never used java for mobiles though
"Bruce Lee" <blah@blahbllbllahblah.com> wrote in message
news:fdVnf.58389$fk2.36530@fe3.news.blueyonder.co. uk...
>
> "Mike Stewart" <michaelNo.J.SpamStewart@baesystesm.com> wrote in message
> news:439fdfd4$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> > Hi,
> > Having got a new N70 i am interesting in writting a couple of apps
> > myself can anyone recommend a good development enviroment andand good
> > websitest o give me an intro in to symbian
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >
>
> Have you programmed Java stuff before?
>
>

I knew i could use java it was just if i could use another quicker
langauage, looking at the nokia site c++ can be used
"Bruce Lee" <blah@blahbllbllahblah.com> wrote in message
news:fdVnf.58389$fk2.36530@fe3.news.blueyonder.co. uk...
>
> "Mike Stewart" <michaelNo.J.SpamStewart@baesystesm.com> wrote in message
> news:439fdfd4$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> > Hi,
> > Having got a new N70 i am interesting in writting a couple of apps
> > myself can anyone recommend a good development enviroment andand good
> > websitest o give me an intro in to symbian
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >
>
> Have you programmed Java stuff before?
>
>

Kit wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 09:14:23 -0000, "Mike Stewart"
> <michaelNo.J.SpamStewart@baesystesm.com> wrote:
>
>
>> Having got a new N70 i am interesting in writting a couple of apps
>>myself can anyone recommend a good development enviroment andand good
>>websitest o give me an intro in to symbian
>>

<snip>

> Then you need to select a Java development environment. There are
> commerciol ones; whilst a popular open source one is Eclipse:
> http://www.eclipse.org/projects/index.php

<snip>

Whilst Symbian phones can run Java - I thought the OP was asking about
Symbian development, which is in C++.

Unfortunately I personally don't have any experience at this, but a
colleage here has tried it (he's mainly a J2ME developer) and comments
that the amount of code required to do a simple 'Hello World' app is
unusually large, which has put him off Symbian - seems excessively
complex for what it is.

D

Bruce Lee wrote:
> "Mike Stewart" <michaelNo.J.SpamStewart@baesystesm.com> wrote in message
> news:439fdfd4$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>
>>Hi,
>> Having got a new N70 i am interesting in writting a couple of apps
>>myself can anyone recommend a good development enviroment andand good
>>websitest o give me an intro in to symbian
>>
>>Thanks
>>
>>Mike
>>
>>
>
>
> Have you programmed Java stuff before?

Symbian is not Java. Whilst Symbian phones can run Java, the OP was
specifically talking about Symbian development.

D

Mike Stewart wrote:
> I knew i could use java it was just if i could use another quicker
> langauage, looking at the nokia site c++ can be used

Yes, Symbian development is done in C++. The Java apps aren't Symbian
specific, and do not require Symbian OS.

D

"Mike Stewart" <michaelNo.J.SpamStewart@baesystesm.com> wrote in message
news:43a021b8$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
> I knew i could use java it was just if i could use another quicker
> langauage, looking at the nokia site c++ can be used

I'd sacrifice a bit of speed for more available platforms.

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 13:55:38 -0000, "Mike Stewart"
<michaelNo.J.SpamStewart@baesystesm.com> wrote:

>I knew i could use java it was just if i could use another quicker
>langauage, looking at the nokia site c++ can be used


I've recently had a go at Symbain and its not nice. You generate batch
files and run them to create the app's and it all has to be done from
specific directories and they are a pain to remember or even find at
first. Alternativly a debug version can be compiled from an IDE like
visual studio or the Borland IDE then run on a SW emulator, but you
are actualy running compiled 8086 code so its not a proper emulator.

All this I wouldnt mind if I could see a market, all mobile games are
java now as far as I can see even though a series 60 is realy
powerful- eg the Nokia NGauge. What are you planning on writing?

In article news:<4b43q1dfdj61k70ljkrm20e60mn9ceici6@4ax.com>, Marble wrote:
> I've recently had a go at Symbain and its not nice.

The nastiest thing about Symbian development is that the OS's binary
interface is based on the calling conventions of a now-obsolete version of
the GNU C++ compiler, so Symbian developers have to continue to use an old,
unmaintained GNU compiler or buy something like CodeWarrior.

Fortunately the old GNU compiler is still pretty usable. It'c compliance
with the ISO C++ standard is a bit weak, but Symbian code isn't all that
standard anyway.

> All this I wouldnt mind if I could see a market, all mobile games are
> java now as far as I can see ...

Read carefully: J2ME is not "java", you can only write fairly limited
applications called "MIDlets", and only use a subset of the normal Java
runtime. Ceratin APIs (including -- quite unaccountably on a mobile device
-- the crypto APIs like javax.crypto) are not available.

The GUI classes provided for MIDlets provide a very primitive abstraction
of a mobile device's screen and keyboard, which is almost guaranteed to be
mapped onto the hardware of each device you test on in an annoyingly
different way than on the last device you tried. This means that, in
practice, you will be tempted to write different versions of your MIDlet
suites for different phones in order to get them to behave in a consistent
and comprehensible fashion.

If you want to write anything but the most trivial of applications for a
Symbian device then C++ is really the only way to do it.

[Disclaimer: I've not tried Python on Nokia's Series 60. That might be
good.]

Cheers,
Daniel.

On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 11:46:48 GMT, Daniel James
<wastebasket@nospam.aaisp.org> wrote:


>
>The GUI classes provided for MIDlets provide a very primitive abstraction
>of a mobile device's screen and keyboard, which is almost guaranteed to be
>mapped onto the hardware of each device you test on in an annoyingly
>different way than on the last device you tried. This means that, in
>practice, you will be tempted to write different versions of your MIDlet
>suites for different phones in order to get them to behave in a consistent
>and comprehensible fashion.

In one way fragmentation is annoying in another its lots of money
paying work. I read that some of the top end mobile games cost in
excess of a million USD purely becuase of device fragmentation because
as you note the j2me applications are trivial.

>
>If you want to write anything but the most trivial of applications for a
>Symbian device then C++ is really the only way to do it.
>

But is there a market for Symbian skills? For a programmer thinking
about getting into mobile phone programming to make a living wouldnt
j2me give you a/ the shortest learning curve and b/ the widest
possibilities for earning?


Thanks
K

In article news:<5cp7q1tardtg356kmaneruv6u6dqf6p6u5@4ax.com>, Marbl wrote:
> But is there a market for Symbian skills?

More than for J2ME, I would say. Thinks might be different in the US where
Symbian (still!) has a lower overall market share but neither you nor I are
there....

Take a look at Jobserve.co.uk and I'm sure you'll find more hits for
Symbian than for J2ME, for example.

Cheers,
Daniel.

On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 12:18:10 GMT, Daniel James
<wastebasket@nospam.aaisp.org> wrote:

>In article news:<5cp7q1tardtg356kmaneruv6u6dqf6p6u5@4ax.com>, Marbl wrote:
>> But is there a market for Symbian skills?
>
>More than for J2ME, I would say. Thinks might be different in the US where
>Symbian (still!) has a lower overall market share but neither you nor I are
>there....
>
>Take a look at Jobserve.co.uk and I'm sure you'll find more hits for
>Symbian than for J2ME, for example.
>
>Cheers,
> Daniel.
>
Yep thanks!

I have been thinking more about it over the weekend and its not as
disheartening as I first thought. My ARM experience (and debugger)
should be an asset

cheers!
K