Amazon.co.uk Review
The emphasis in
Instant Palm OS Applications doesn't fall on
instant--one suspects the publisher's marketing department had something to do with the title. Rather, the defining characteristic of this book is quality and comprehensiveness. If you want to know how to use the C programming language to perform some task under Palm OS (particularly if it's a readily described, commonly performed one, like parsing a Web page), this book has the code and explanation you need. This book is for everyone who's wished (with much hand-waving and hair-pulling) for a simple, straightforward explanation of some aspect of programming that they've seen done but haven't been able to duplicate themselves. Plus, because the book's sample code appears on the companion CD-ROM in a series of includable header files, it does speed development considerably.
Kris Jamsa's code is tidy and efficient (if minimally commented); it's generally easy to learn from it even when the accompanying text doesn't provide too much illumination. In a section on databases, for example, Jamsa shows how to write appointment details to a database, extract them in a couple of ways, and how to write a time-tracking application that allocates time across several jobs. You can use the applications as they are, or, more likely, modify them for incorporation into a larger application you're creating. This book is all about learning by example. --David Wall
Topics covered: how to write software, in C, for the Palm OS operating system. All core capabilities of Palm OS software--including basic user interfaces, database queries, network connectivity, retrieving Web pages, and file manipulation--are covered by a profusion of examples.
Product Description
This text provides a comprehensive introduction to the Palm OS environment for programmers moving into the Palm arena. The CD contains all code from the book so developers can modify the applications to fit their needs. The book focuses on C-based applications and on the GCC compiler, it also teaches users how to create their own Palm-based Web site and how to build a newsfeed using Web clippings. With newsfeed, a company can make stock quotes, sports results, and general news and information readily available to the Palm community.
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