Friday, May 30, 2003
Symbian, Java and Series 60 Platform Books Slaughtered
Posted by Andy Sjostrom in "DEVELOPER" @ 11:00 AM
http://www.sys-con.com/wireless/article.cfm?id=511
I read a lot of books. Depending on how busy I am with other things in life, I try to read 200-600 pages a month. I mostly read books on programming but lately I have started reading more novels and books on photograpy. Growing old? Well, I came across this interesting article about wireless developer reference books resources. Developer and editor-in-chief of Wireless Business & Technology, Bill Ray has some definate thoughts on a couple of books on wireless development. Check it out and tell me what you think! What's the best mobile application development book you've read?
"Learning to program for the Symbian OS is difficult enough, but given the available documentation, it's remarkable anyone manages it. ... I'm sure that the information is in this thousand-plus page book, but I'm damned if I can find it. Unfortunately books like Programming for the Series 60 Platform and Symbian OS, from Wiley, make constant references to the Wrox title, making you wonder at times why you purchased the latter. Even the combination won't give you everything you need to know to build an application on a Nokia 7650, with the Wrox title being out-of-date and the one from Wiley suggesting the wrong processor specification. ... Wireless Java for Symbian Devices, again from Wiley, suffers particularly from the problems inherent in rushing to publication. ... Micro Java Game Development, from Addison Wesley, fails to add much to the subject. Games development should be exciting, at least when it's being learned (before descending into the 24/7 slog that makes up professional games programming), and while covering several versions of Java, the book fails to instill enthusiasm, spending most of its time with the kind of text-based application already familiar to most computer programmers."
I read a lot of books. Depending on how busy I am with other things in life, I try to read 200-600 pages a month. I mostly read books on programming but lately I have started reading more novels and books on photograpy. Growing old? Well, I came across this interesting article about wireless developer reference books resources. Developer and editor-in-chief of Wireless Business & Technology, Bill Ray has some definate thoughts on a couple of books on wireless development. Check it out and tell me what you think! What's the best mobile application development book you've read?
"Learning to program for the Symbian OS is difficult enough, but given the available documentation, it's remarkable anyone manages it. ... I'm sure that the information is in this thousand-plus page book, but I'm damned if I can find it. Unfortunately books like Programming for the Series 60 Platform and Symbian OS, from Wiley, make constant references to the Wrox title, making you wonder at times why you purchased the latter. Even the combination won't give you everything you need to know to build an application on a Nokia 7650, with the Wrox title being out-of-date and the one from Wiley suggesting the wrong processor specification. ... Wireless Java for Symbian Devices, again from Wiley, suffers particularly from the problems inherent in rushing to publication. ... Micro Java Game Development, from Addison Wesley, fails to add much to the subject. Games development should be exciting, at least when it's being learned (before descending into the 24/7 slog that makes up professional games programming), and while covering several versions of Java, the book fails to instill enthusiasm, spending most of its time with the kind of text-based application already familiar to most computer programmers."
