Rating: 
Summary: Flawed software mars a promising book
Review: The book looked quite promising, but when the very first Hello program (using the author's own sourcecode provided on the CD) failed to compile, it became essentially worthless. I'm sure I am not alone with this problem. All my C/C++ experience proved useless in unraveling the mystery of why the CodeWarrior Lite needed to (but couldn't) find "resource.frk/starter.tmp." The main reason I bought the book was to test out the IDE, especially the ability to debug using the Palm Emulator, so basically I wasted my money.
Rating: 
Summary: Useful, yet disappointing
Review: The cover claims, "Open This Book as a Novice and Finish It as a Pro". I found it useful, in a very utilitarian sense, because I am a fairly experienced C programmer, but a true novice would be hard-pressed to get anywhere with it. A modest amount of experience with C/C++ is an absolute minimum prerequisite, in my opinion. As mentioned by other reviewers, the title, or at least the cover, should indicate that if you don't plan to use CodeWarrior, you shouldn't bother.While I was able to work around them, there were a couple of things that I found very frustrating in this book. Since it was written for Palm OS 3.1, quite a few of the data types used in the example code have been deprecated, and the code will therefore not compile without including PalmCompatibility.h in addition to the normal PalmOS.h. The author now has some information about this on his web site, but it was not available when I first bought the book several months ago. I figured it out, of course, but it was an exercise in frustration. More troublesome to me is the disjointed, difficult to follow, rambling explanations and not-so-subtle errors in the text and example code. The example code frequently doesn't quite match the explanations. In at least one case (chapter 4), the author could not possibly have tested the code in the listing at the end of the chapter; instead of using a call to the PalmOS library function FldSetTextHandle, he mistakenly typed FrmSetTextHandle, which does not exist in the PalmOS library. In my opinion, failure to test the code destined for publication is unpardonable. Having said all that, I still found the book useful, as I said at the outset. Perversely, the glaring mistakes actually helped in a way, by forcing me to go to the Palm documentation and header files to figure some things out for myself. Since I was completely new to PalmOS programming, I did learn a great deal in the process of going through this book, although I would have preferred to get there with less heartburn.
Rating:
Summary: Useful, yet disappointing
Review: The cover claims, "Open This Book as a Novice and Finish It as a Pro". I found it useful, in a very utilitarian sense, because I am a fairly experienced C programmer, but a true novice would be hard-pressed to get anywhere with it. A modest amount of experience with C/C++ is an absolute minimum prerequisite, in my opinion. As mentioned by other reviewers, the title, or at least the cover, should indicate that if you don't plan to use CodeWarrior, you shouldn't bother. While I was able to work around them, there were a couple of things that I found very frustrating in this book. Since it was written for Palm OS 3.1, quite a few of the data types used in the example code have been deprecated, and the code will therefore not compile without including PalmCompatibility.h in addition to the normal PalmOS.h. The author now has some information about this on his web site, but it was not available when I first bought the book several months ago. I figured it out, of course, but it was an exercise in frustration. More troublesome to me is the disjointed, difficult to follow, rambling explanations and not-so-subtle errors in the text and example code. The example code frequently doesn't quite match the explanations. In at least one case (chapter 4), the author could not possibly have tested the code in the listing at the end of the chapter; instead of using a call to the PalmOS library function FldSetTextHandle, he mistakenly typed FrmSetTextHandle, which does not exist in the PalmOS library. In my opinion, failure to test the code destined for publication is unpardonable. Having said all that, I still found the book useful, as I said at the outset. Perversely, the glaring mistakes actually helped in a way, by forcing me to go to the Palm documentation and header files to figure some things out for myself. Since I was completely new to PalmOS programming, I did learn a great deal in the process of going through this book, although I would have preferred to get there with less heartburn.
Rating:
Summary: Error ridden bloated text.
Review: The idea here is to give solid step-by-step design examples of a simple applications, with the source code in written form and on CD. However what you get are applications riddled with errors, programs that don't work and 3/4 of a book devoted to just the source code. It makes it look like you get a lot for your buck, but alas another programming book to be used as a door stop. I now own 4 Plam programming books all of which don't do the job, but this was the most frustrating.
Rating:
Summary: step by step skip step
Review: The step-by-step approach leaves out a lot of steps. Many of the steps are out of order when it comes to building a working project. In the first resource building project using Constructor you are told to add the file to the project without saving and naming it according to what it is called in the source code, then told to debug the source, and then given the updated code to modify the source! It was so frustrating I gave up on the book in Chapter 3. Isn't there anyone out there that can write a comprehensive PALM book using CodeWarrior that source code runs without errors, actually shows how and why projects run, and actually builds something from the ground up that is explained well and works?!?! I can't find one book that clearly explains the whats, hows and whys in a clear and concise manner.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the cost
Review: There aren't to many books on the market for development with the palm but I felt this book was worth the money I spent. I was more interested in palm controls like the table control and Robert Mykland did a good job explain such objects.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a C programmer? Move on...
Review: This book is a detailed, difficult to follow textbook that covers the software Codewarrier Lite. As it states in the beginning... if you've never written C code, buy a textbook on that language, then come back and read this book. Overall thumbs down...
Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: This book is great if you wish to follow step-by-step the application examples that the author wrote. There is no explanation behind the steps taken and how they interact with the development environment. As an example of how poor this book is, in the MetroWerks CodeWarrior environment there is a tool for developming screens and buttons called the Constructor. The author of this book tells you how to open up this tool and do what HE wants done with it and no other explanations of how to use this tool. I found the book very poor if you are a seasoned programmer wishing to learn a new tool set.
Rating: 
Summary: Well worth the cost
Review: This book is well written and easy to follow. I have tried other PalmOS books and found myself immersed in confusion. Mr. Mykland's style of writing talks to the reader rather than dictates to them. You feel comfortable with the author and the instructions are easy to follow. He maintains a website with updates and addenda that provide up-to-the-date relevance.
Rating:
Summary: Do Not Buy This Book
Review: This book just doesn't worth your health not to mention your money. It throws you into the very cold water of palm programming without first reviewing its basics. It successfully combines enormous editorial mistakes with a buggy version of Codewarrior (the IDE and debugger) which together make your life utterly miserable. In addition, the Codewarrior utility is extremely unsuitable for palm applications developing because of its Not_For_Commercial_Use opening message it sticks into every program you make, thus forcing you to buy a ~300$ commercial CodeWarrior version. True, there is an errata file you can download from the writer's web site, but still it's irrational to work the way this book's reader do. You have to be an experienced C programmer with a LOT of patience. A LOT. Please, don't follow my mistake. Either wait for the urgently required 2nd version of this book or consider a different one. Thank you.
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