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Bob Russell · 02-12-2006, 02:31 AM

I agree, there's many ways to become a PalmOS programmer. But I think if you want to be mainstream and able to do just about anything you want, it's back to CodeWarrior or the Palm development tool. But I think the latter has limitations. I forget. Maybe it was aimed at Cobalt and left behind some features for Garnet?

The only language I could use easily (for simple programs) without hardly any learning curve or time spent is... http://www.aldweb.com/articles.php?lng=en&pg=5350 and it has gotten much better since I used it myself.

But then again, I don't know visual basic, and my first language was the old-fashioned BASIC, so I guess that's what stuck in my head more than others. Funny thing is that for new coders coming out only familiar with OO, it might be really hard to get used to how Basic works! (In my mind, that trouble is only fair after all the trouble we procedural structured programming guys had to go to in order to get used to OO!)

You can also do Java-like programming with SuperWaba, but that has a bit of a learning curve, and some quirks and limitations that can be frustrating if you are used to Java. There are other Basic languages available like NS Basic.

And of course if you look around you'll find Pascal, Lisp, database app development systems (basically a bunch of forms tied to database records make up your app), and all kinds of others. But I don't know if they still work on newer PalmOS devices.

02-12-2006, 02:31 AM	#3
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	I agree, there's many ways to become a PalmOS programmer. But I think if you want to be mainstream and able to do just about anything you want, it's back to CodeWarrior or the Palm development tool. But I think the latter has limitations. I forget. Maybe it was aimed at Cobalt and left behind some features for Garnet? The only language I could use easily (for simple programs) without hardly any learning curve or time spent is... http://www.aldweb.com/articles.php?lng=en&pg=5350 and it has gotten much better since I used it myself. But then again, I don't know visual basic, and my first language was the old-fashioned BASIC, so I guess that's what stuck in my head more than others. Funny thing is that for new coders coming out only familiar with OO, it might be really hard to get used to how Basic works! (In my mind, that trouble is only fair after all the trouble we procedural structured programming guys had to go to in order to get used to OO!) You can also do Java-like programming with SuperWaba, but that has a bit of a learning curve, and some quirks and limitations that can be frustrating if you are used to Java. There are other Basic languages available like NS Basic. And of course if you look around you'll find Pascal, Lisp, database app development systems (basically a bunch of forms tied to database records make up your app), and all kinds of others. But I don't know if they still work on newer PalmOS devices.