S60 Development

[Peverel]

Have just found a requirement to do some development on the Nokia platform, specifically the S60 variant.

Have already done mobile device development previously (on the Blackberry) using Java and and not a great C/C++ developer.

Wondered if any of you clever chaps and chapesses have any pointers, advice or pitfalls to watch out for?

Thanks

Pev

[kevin]

Is this on the Symbian platform?

[Peverel]

Yes it is on Symbian. I am looking at the S60 5th edition I think it was

[kevin]

I've done some Symbian development using C++. I used the open-source tools for Linux. It's straightforward enough if you are used to embedded programming and C++. Documentation is rubbish and takes some figuring out. I'm not sure what to suggest -- if you have specific questions I could try to answer them. Can't promise anything -- I haven't worked on Symbian for about four years.

[Peverel]

Thanks Kevin,

I am about to start and I have decided to use Eclipse and Jave ME. Going this route means I can reuse some of the code I have written for the Blackberry on things like the Location API and other common interfaces.

It seems from my reading that the biggest difference between the Nokia/S60 Java sdk and the Blackberry is the specifics of handling the UI but hopefully that won't be too bad.

If I get stuck you may well get a PM lol

Thanks again

Pev

[kevin]

My experience is that the problem with J2ME is working around limitations in access to the machine. Native Symbian apps will let you read and write files directly. Doing this is generally non-trivial in J2ME, and impossible on many platforms. Same with network access -- J2ME apps typically won't be able to open a network connection on anything that the handset doesn't already recognize. But I guess if you've used J2ME already you'll know how to get around this kind of thing.

[Peverel]

I already have some HTTP and HTTPS class for Java ME that cover the limted comms I need. The webserver we are using has a custom written HTTP handler that processes simple requests we send it (did that for the Blackberry stuff and will reuse it for both the S60 and iPhone development). The app is pretty simple it accesses the GPS on the handheld and sends location updates back to the site. Thankfully the Blackberry and S60 OS's implemented the JavaME Location API so I can port a lot of stuff straight over. The Blackberry has a pretty simple interface to persistant data for config settings so I am hoping the S60 does too.........

[kevin]

If it's just config settings you can use the RecordStore functionality which is part of the MIDP spec and should (In principle) be supported on any J2ME device.

[mitchelln]

Stick with java. Symbian C++ is the Mount Everest of learning curves, even for seasoned C++ developers.

[kevin]

Stick with java. Symbian C++ is the Mount Everest of learning curves, even for seasoned C++ developers.

It's certainly non-straightforward. I've been developing in C/C++ for 20 years, and I found it a struggle.

However, in my view, developing decent apps for handsets is a challenge, regardless of the tools used. Java is certainly more accessible, and it's much easier to get to the `hello world' stage on a Symbian handset using Java than C++. But as the complexity and size of the app increases, in my experience the differences between different languages and tools diminishes.

Still, I reckon a skilled C++ programmer would need to allow at least a few weeks even to get to `hello world' in Symbian. If you're expecting to deliver a product in, say, six weeks, then that may not be a good investment of time :/

[Peverel]

Well I must confess I am glad I didn't venture down the C++route thanks for all the comments and advice. I am also quite pleased with how portable the code I wrote for the Blackberry was - As most of it was Java ME I have been able to reuse all the HTTP client classes I wrote and also the Location classes too. Basically it has just left me to sort out the interface as the BB uses its own interface library. I am hoping the S60 prototype app will be finished in the next 3 or 4 days