Palm Programming in Basic

Rating:
Summary: A Great Way to get going in Mobile Development
Review: 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...

Rating:
Summary: Skimpy on details and containing inaccuracies
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Another great tool for the Basic Programmer's Tool Box
Review: 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.