Palm Programming

Rating:
Summary: should be called CodeWarrior Palm Programming
Review: Another book that pushes the "drag and drop" programming.

Barely mentions the GNU development environment which is used by most programmers now

Rating:
Summary: Great Intro Book to Palm Programming
Review: I am an experienced C/C++ programmer and wanted something to get me up to speed fast on Palm programming. I found it in this book. It is well organized, covers key concepts well and is easy to read. I was especially impressed with how well it strikes a good balance between giving tedious step-by-step instructions and leaving it for you to figure out. I don't think much of books that are basically code listings. This book isn't one of those. While it uses the beginning chapters to cover the mundane repeative tasks, the balance of the book focuses mainly on the essential code and clearly explains the concepts.

The only disappointing thing I found (hence 4 stars instead of 5) was that the code on the CD was written with an older version of CW than the trial version located on the CD. This necessitated changing the projects after they were converted so the correct .libs were linked. That would have been annoying enough but I also found that resources where missing on many of the projects too. That meant that some of the code wouldn't compile.

The good news, however, is that the author responded quickly to an email and sent me updated source code. I also recieved an update from the publisher (AW - I had complained to them too) a few days later. Everything works fine now and I am a happy palm programmer.

One final caveat: if you don't know C, don't start with this book. It assumes you can code. Also be aware that the code is written in CW, the official compiler for the Palm. GCC users may want to look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: don't get this book
Review: I consider myslef a beginning/intermediate level VC++ programmer and found this book a very good starting point for learning Palm programming. Examples were clearly defined and timely comparisons to Windows/Unix programming were made to ease understanding of Palm nuances. The only downfall is the CodeWarrior Lite product that comes with the book is so crippled it makes it hard to use (not the authors fault).

Rating:
Summary: An average book.
Review: I have three palm programming books (dummies guide, o'reilly developers guide and this sams book) and whilst not 'terrible' or 'worthless', it does ranks below the other two.

Lets be clear, the book covers well what it attempts to cover. How forms work, and such.

It is severly lacking in its explanation of database records and memory management.

It assumes you know all the palm API inside and out and how it all works. IE: A basic task of say, changing the text of a label on a form... it wont tell you how to do that (dummies guide does, and covers the pitfalls and requirements of doing so).

The contents of the CD is useless except for browsing some minor snippets of code. A good tea coaster.

I do not find myself turning to this book when I need to look something up.

A nice intro book but barely scratch the surface. Buy the dummies book, its a far greater investment.

Rating:
Summary: There are better books!
Review: I would not buy this book because: (1) to fill the book complete listings are printed. (2) where you expect a small listing to illustrate some text you won't find any. (3) the examples are trivial, only cover the most superficial topics. (4) there are better books out there (O'Reillys and the Dummies).

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS NOT A BEGINNERS BOOK
Review: Of all the Palm Programming books I have on my desk, I generally look at this book second for hints. Here are the Cons:- It is heavy on CodeWarrior (fyi.. I use CW) and if you haven't bought CW then don't buy this book either. Second, the book is getting somewhat dated. Third, if you want to dabble with Palm programming then I would say this book is not for you. On the Pro side: if you are going to be doing this for a living, the topics it covers are generally very useful and that's why I consider it good to have around.

Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK BLOWS!!
Review: Overall, this is a fair book. I'd have given it two and half stars if I could, feeling that it is an average book. Nonetheless, some things concerned me. Primarily, the book's title should be "Palm Programming using CodeWarrior." The book deals almost exclusively with CodeWarrior (CW), with only an occasional sentence devoted to any other development tool. I can respect the fact that this is probably the case because CodeWarrior is the leading Palm Development environment; nonetheless, the book's singular focus on CW should be duly noted up front. The fact that the CD contains GCC would lead you to believe that the book would also contain information on development using GCC. Well it doesn't. This probably will not be an issue for the hard-core developer who is comfortable with other GNU based compliers or those who like to figure things out on their own. Nonetheless, discussion of GCC would be appreciated by the hobbyist who wants to use a free development environment. (And indecently, GCC is freeware that is downloadable from many web sites including Palm's Developer site at PalmOS.com).

The book is clearly aimed at readers with at least a moderate knowledge of C or C++ (or at the very least, some other programming language). This was, in fact, one of the main reasons I purchased this book. I am often annoyed when attempting to expand my horizons, that in order to find what I need, I must sift through books aimed at the true beginner that contain much information that I already know. This is one of the book's strong points.

The book is well organized. The subjects flow well, feeding off previous subjects. There are many code listings and the companion CD contains all the source code. Personally, I did not care for some of the code explanations; and new programmers may find them confusing. In addition, little attention was paid to memory management. Since the Palm is a platform in which every byte matters, this is a significant oversight. Furthermore, memory management is probably one of the weakest skills of most programmers today and the cause of many programs locking up or crashing. (Having taught intermediate and advance programming courses, I feel I can make such a statement with some authority) You should be aware, if you plan to purchase this book, of some additional things.

1) This book is based on Palm OS 3.1 and SDK 3.1 (Software Developer's Kit) and CodeWarrior R5. The Palm OS and SDK are currently at version 3.5. There were some significant changes in v3.5 that can dramatically affect a program's compatibility. Release 6 is the most recent CodeWarrior. All the book's examples are based on CW R5; however there are R6 updates available on the author's web site. (Outdated software versions are the bane of any computer book; nonetheless, a reader must be aware of it - caveat emptor.)

2) The version of CW included with this book is CW Lite. (Which can also be downloaded from PalmOS.com) This is a VERY watered down version of CW that does not even allow you to save your work. What concerns me is that nowhere does the books marketing verbiage reference this fact. The front cover states, "The accompanying CD-ROM contains...fully functional development tools." The back cover, under the "On the CD" header lists "CodeWarrior for Palm Computing platform, the development tool of choice..." The inside front cover, which lists the included software, also lists the software as CodeWarrior, not CodeWarrior Lite. Having purchased many programming books, I did not expect a $300 program to be included with a book at this price. However, without reference to this being CW Lite (as do ALL the other Palm programming books that include CW Lite), I half expected something in the order of a 30-day trial version. The end result, if you do not have or purchase the full version of CodeWarrior, it is very difficult to do most of the examples in this book, let alone to start to develop your own programs. You can of course use GCC, but unless you have enough programming experience to "translate" the author's examples, this will quickly become a frustrating process. (CodeWarrior is a window based IDE (Integrated Development Environment) where as GCC is a command line compiler) Personally, I like to teach new programmers using a basic text editor and a command line compiler. It forces them to pay more attention to the work at hand since there are no "shortcuts" or quick-tools to use. It also causes them to have a far better understanding of the code structure and good programming practices. (It's amazing how sloppy and hard to read code can suddenly "become" when it is taken out of a color coded editor and put in a simply fixed font, black & white text editor.)

3) The book only covers Conduit development superficially. This is because Conduit development is a topic in of itself. I respect the author's choice of not pretending to be able to do justice to this topic in a mere chapter. This is in no way a shortcoming of the book; you just need to know this going in.

If you are a highly experienced programmer, you will most likely find this an excellent book that gets right to the point. However, if you are a hobbyist or a moderately experienced programmer, I would recommend you look at "Palm OS Programming Bible" by Lonnon R. Foster; it provides a little more information and guidance. (It still, however, is aimed at people with some programming knowledge. But the novice programmer will not feel lost as they may in this book.) In addition, it is based on Palm OS 3.5 and SDK 3.5. I am about ¾ of the way through it, and look forward to doing a review on it shortly.

Rating:
Summary: What works here?
Review: The author happily writes code for CodeWarrior, yet includes CodeWarrior Lite on the CD. The two SDK are different and there is no help on CodeWarrior Lite. In addition, you can not compile any code with the Lite version.

Rating:
Summary: Buy the Palm OS Programming Bible instead
Review: This was the first book I bought on Palm OS programming and I wish it had not been. On the plus side it does a good job of explaining the basics of Codewarrior and it includes some good basic examples of programs.

On the minus side the examples do not compile on the included Codewarrior Lite. They do not even compile on the standard Codewarrior without a fair bit of massaging.

Overall I found using this book to learn Palm OS programming to be very frustrating. Between this book, the Codewarrior Tutorials, and trail and error I did eventually learn to write Palm OS programs.

Since then I have acquired a copy of the "Palm OS Programming Bible". All I can say is the "Bible" is more than worth the extra [price] in terms of technical accuracy and in depth coverage of topics.