Reading: Palm OS Programming Bible, pp. 1-40
The Palm Computing Platform
The PDA was designed to be an extension to a desktop PC allowing the viewing of data as well as data entry. There is no doubt that as the devices become more powerful and memory gets more plentiful that PDAs are much more than just an extension to a desktop PC.
As you develop PDA applications, keep in mind:
- Performance: In the Palm world, we are talking about devices with 33/66 MHz processors; therefore, extra time should be spent in the design phase of a project. Speed and efficiency are necessary for a successful application.
- Input Methods: It is still the case that most users still enter data with a stylus using Graffiti, although keyboards are becoming more popular.
- Screen Size: Today we are dealing with devices that have screens around 6 centimeters on a side and resolutions from 160x160 to 32x320 to 320x480. We are faced with the classic tradeoff between how much to display versus a simple to use and uncluttered UI.
- Limited Memory: We are still talking about devices with 8/16 MB of built-in memory with an additional memory stick up to 128 MB of additional memory.
- HotSync Operations: It is important to share data between the PC and PDA in most cases. Another issue is keeping records between the PDA and PC in sync which is done via a conduit.
- Palm OS: The Palm OS has evolved from early versions of the OS to versions 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5, 4.0, 4.1, ... You need to ask yourself what devices/OS your application will support.
- Palm OS APIs: For future OS releases, stick with software development using the Palm APIs rather than accessing the hardware directly.