PalmPilot's popularity is growing and with over a million units sold, the Palm OS dominates the hand-held market. Wired has astutely described Palm's position in a recent article: "On its way to becoming the bestselling hand-held computer of all time, the 3Com PalmPilot has spawned an intense, emotional, and fanatical developer following not seen since the glory days of the Mac." (Wired, 20 Feb. 98). Palm Programming should be eagerly accepted by programmers because the authors worked closely with Palm to ensure that the book is tailored exactly to the needs of the ever-growing group of Palm developers. As nothing but some piecemeal documentation exists currently, this book provides a much needed solution to the Palm developers. In fact, Palm uses this book as their official developer's guide and will be using it in the future as a key part of their training materials for developers. There are currently no books on Palm programming (and we know of none that are planned). The only way to learn is by using the reference material published by Palm (available freely on their Web site), the tutorial they provide, or various Palm programming FAQs compiled by third parties. Palm Programming shows intermediate to experienced C programmers how to build a Palm application from the ground up. Using an easy-to- understand tutorial approach, this book gives readers everything necessary to create a wide range of Palm applications and conduits, from simple scripts through full-blown applications, and in the process provides thorough coverage of Palm programming. It includes a CD-ROM (Macintosh and Windows compatible) with the full source code to the examples in the book, a trial version of Palm's Software Development Kit, and third-party developer tools, including Metrowerks' CodeWarrior Lite programming kit. Outline Part 1: Overview of Palm OS and devices Chapter 1: The Palm Solution Chapter 2: Developing for Palm OS Chapter 3: Designing a solution Part 2: Programming for the handheld Chapter 4: Structure of an Application Chapter 5: Forms and Form Objects Chapter 6: Databases Chapter 7: Menus Chapter 8: Extras Chapter 9: Communications Chapter 10: Debugging Part 3: Programming for the desktop: conduits Chapter 11: Getting started with conduits Chapter 12: Uploading and Downloading Data Chapter 13: Two-way Syncing Appendix: Where to go from here

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 43 Ratings

Excellent - Latest Edition will always be on my bookshelf - 2003-11-06
Reviewer Rating:
After dabling with a Palm for awhile, and browsing the 1st ed of this book, I decided to get serious about Palm programming. So I obtained the latest edition, 2nd edition and wondered why there isn't a 3rd edition; as the second edition does not cover higher than Palm OS 4.1.

However, given that, I find now that I am reading this 2nd edition from cover to cover. It is truely excellent. Yes there are areas it would be nice to cover in more detail; but there are also specific books such as Palm Database Programming that go into these areas in more depth.

I have lectured at college, and am planning to give a semester course in Palm Programming, and I intend to have each of my students buy this book as the major text.

I shall always buy the latest most current edition of this for my bookshelf.

Excellent work and praise for the two authors! Where is the awaited 3rd edition?

Palm OS Programming The Developer's Guide - 2004-01-02
Reviewer Rating:
The information was not as detailed in some areas as I had hoped. It would be a handy reference guide except! The pages are separating from the binder and I expect that in a few months I will have many lose pages stuffed in the book, Especially in areas I reference often. A good reference book should withstand repeated usage, and this one will not.This book was bought new in mid November and has had just one months useage.

A disappointment - particulary for an O'Reilly! - 2009-09-21
Reviewer Rating:
Really not worth it, especially new. Despite O'Reilly's excellent reputation, this one volume is not particularly useful to either beginning Palm coders or experts. It discusses a number of possible programming languages and software, but all examples seem to be with their own specific setup, complete with their custom "stationery". (Yes, you can download it from their website.) The examples do not include many common tasks - like working with dates - and in some cases do not even function as written! Truly a disappointment.

Good. - 2007-12-01
Reviewer Rating:
I got it for my son and h seems to be really pleased with it.

Not Bad - 2007-03-02
Reviewer Rating:
This book has a decent overview and will get you started. Some of the organization, material, and graphics are well thought out. I like that it covers CodeWarrior but also cygwin tools. It pulls a lot of material together that could otherwise take time to hunt for. Though, still, those with the SDK may find that is all you need and may not touch this book.

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