Novice howto

From OpenSource

I write this so that others that consider writing programs for mobile phones can have a better start than I did.

There are a number of phones out there and not all of them invite you to write programs. I have found that the Nokia phones running S60 (S60 is a layer on top of Symbian OS) is the one that welcomes you the most. You have several options for programming on these devices: C++, Java, Flash and Python.

1 C++
2 Java
3 Flash
4 Python
5 Conclusion: Python
- 5.1 Getting Python environment up and ready
- 5.2 Useful links

[edit] C++

Nokia has a free IDE, Carbide C++ Express. It compiles your code, but has no GUI designer. If you tried to write MS Windows programs in the early 90s you will know what I mean. There is a Carbide C++ Professional. It has a GUI designer, but there is still at lot of coding to get a useful app.

[edit] Java

There is J2ME as the micro edition of Java, soon to be merged with J2SE. You can start from a whole section in Sun website, Java where you need to download WTK 2.5.2 wirless toolkit. you can use Eclipse Eclipse as an IDE , but you still need the plugin to start developing J2ME. you can find it on EclipseME EclipseME. Java is so easy and fast to learn and deliver, but so limited.

[edit] Flash

There is something called Flash Lite installed in many phones. this enables you to write programs. I tried it, but flash is a whole new concept to me. I guess that if you know how to write flash then flash lite can do what yo want to. But I have the feeling that it is best suited for animations.

[edit] Python

This was a surprise. I had heard about the python language, but newer looked at the code. There was some simple tutorials to follow. But most important, it does not require a lot of coding to get simple programs up and running. If you know programming then you will manage to write programs fast. The Python runtime system is not installed on the phones and must be installed before your programs can run.

[edit] Conclusion: Python

I will use Python for prototyping ideas and making proof of concept application. Then I will code it in C++.

[edit] Getting Python environment up and ready

I do not have a S60 based phone and will use the S60 emulator to run and test my programs. You get the S60 emulator and the Python emulator at www.forum.nokia.com. I spent a lot of time finding information until I found the site MobiLenin. This is the best source for a novice user. It has a course on writing Python apps and there are videos from Python courses. This is the best source of information I have ever found on the net. This guy wants you to learn and enjoy Python.

The problem is that the course on site assumes that you have a mobile phone running S60. Most of the samples can be run using the emulator. But when it starts to get really interesting you need to install some SIS files (handling XML and communication). The problem is then that SIS files are binary files that runs on the mobile phone. They will not run on the emulator. How to solve this I don't know. But as soon as I figure out I will update this novice howto