Any free mobile IDEs that run on a Blackberry? - ide

I was just wondering if there were any IDEs that I can run on my blackberry. My old Palm had on board C and a BASIC interpreter. On board C used the Palm's builtin text editor but the BASIC interpreter had its own simple editor built in.
Anything like this for Blackberry or j2me in general?

As far as I know, there are no Basic or C interpreters or IDEs that run specifically on the BlackBerry, but there is an open source J2ME basic dialect called CellularBasic which is meant to be coded with/executed on the device itself. It targets J2ME, so it may run on the BlackBerry: http://cellbasic.sourceforge.net/

I'm working on a Hecl port for BlackBerry, but it's not quite there yet. If you're curious, join the Google Group, where I post updates about the state of things.

Related

Modern language IDE similar to QBasic?

I'm trying to find a modern environment similar to what I found great about QBasic but making up for the flaws. The purpose of this is to code with my 6 year old son.
I'm looking for an IDE that uses a modern language, has the ability to draw graphics and play audio, and doesn't force the User to jump around much between coding and running their application.
In QBasic you had basically two modes: Edit and Run. There were no third party libraries required for creating graphics or generating Audio tones (that I remember). You never had more than one "window" opened at a time.
Is there a modern day equivalent IDE which uses a modern language that provides what I'm looking for?
I don't want him to have to jump around between various windows, try to wrap his mind around window toolkits, understand the command line, or use OOP just to get started. My end goal is to create simple graphical games with him -- not printing text out to the console.
(Preferably cross platform or useable on Mac OSX since that's what we have at the house. Preferably Python based since that's my language of choice.)
QBasic is a great option. You can purchase an old PC from a thrift store and run QBasic on it. There is the option of QB64 which can run on both Mac and Windows. Hope this is helpful.
I'd suggest QB64, almost 100% compatible with QBasic/QuickBasic but runs on Windows.
You could maybe try Small Basic, it aimed to recreate the ease-of-use and educational purposes of the old BASIC languages build into home computers from the 1980s
The Small Basic project was initiated following this article on Salon:
Why Johnny can’t code (David Brin, 2006)

How do you write program for Mac OS X?

Hi just wondering how do you start writing programs for MAC OS X?
what language does it use? can I use objective C? which IDE do I use? any licensing fee should I know about.
Thanks.
Mac OS X is a great programming platform, as such you can use just about any language you like.
If you wish to write native applications using the Cocoa framework you'll probably want to be using Objective-C. You can download XCode as an IDE for free.
No licensing fees.
Xcode is the apple supplied IDE, and without external libraries some objective C is always required to build applications.
That being said xcode supports multiple types of langauges, and has extensions for many more - and C++ can be spliced in with objective C code - so if you prefer to code in C++ you can write a quick objective C wrapper and do all your own stuff in C++ - or indeed the langauge of your choice. There are a few other open source IDE's but I don't really recommend them - most of them crash on opening in new versions of Mac OS X.
Xcode is found in the developer package on your second mac install disk, or the latest version (with iphone SDK's) can be downloaded once registering on the Apple Developer Website, which you can become a basic member of for free.
As far as licensing goes, unless you plan to make a game for iOS there are no liscensing fees, unless you want a full subscription to apples developer website, which gives you a few extra things from them.
If your trying to write a game, consider using the SDL library, a cross platform wrapper for whole lot of operating system interface functions, including graphics - or you can use it as I do in combination with OpenGL for full 3D Support, hardware acceleration, ect.
Objective-C + Cocoa
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/ObjectiveC/Introduction/introObjectiveC.html
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/CocoaFundamentals/Introduction/Introduction.html
Apple suggests XCode
The native libraryfor OS X developed by Apple are called Cocoa. It provides OS X's graphical user interface, and other libraries such as Core Data for database acess, Core Animation for fast easy animation and video features in your software. These libraries are written in a mixture of C and Objective C (which is an extension of the C language). For best performance and best integration with the Mac operating system you should probaby look at developing in C, Objective C and perhaps some C++ as well.
There are some add-on layers that provide acces to the Cocoa libraries from other languages such as Ruby or Python. These are generaly of good quality and work well, so you can use these languages if your aplication does not need the very best performance. They are generaly considered to be easier to learn than the C family of languages and you can become productive very quickly.
Beyond that, you can use languages and toolkits that are platform-independent so your software will can run on Linux or Windows as well as the Mac. For example Python comes with a simple built-in GUI toolkit called Tkinter. You can use more powerful cross-platform toolkits such as Qt or WxWidgets with C or C++ but have excellent bindings for Ruby, Python and other langauges. This is an approach I am using of a project, with Python and Qt.
Others have mentioned Apple's integrated development environemnt (IDE) called XCode. I have only toyed with it, but it looks very powerful for true native development of Cocoa applications.

How to access device settings on a Sony Ericsson mobile phone?

Edited on April 29th, content changed
Hello everyone,
I recently bought a Sony Ericsson mobile phone and I would like to add a missing feature myself. In fact I cannot actually disable Internet connection in an easy way when roaming, which cost me a lot of money last time I moved away ... So I would like to develop a little application that would just replace the actual Internet configuration with a fake configuration to avoid auto-connections.
So what I would like to know is how can I access programmatically to my phone settings? I know that Sony Ericsson provides a SDK to run Java applications on its customised JVM. So what I am actually looking for is to know if they extended the J2ME functionality to fit their devices requirements.
This is not well documented so I am asking this question with the hope that someone here already had experience with development targeted for Sony Ericsson devices.
Thanks.
NB: This is a Sony Ericsson Elm which is based on the Sony Ericsson OS with SE Java Platform 8.5.
Edit: I accepted QuickRecipesOnSymbianOS answer as it gave me a clue on the only feature that could have helped me, but which is unfornatunately missing. The Sony Ericsson Java Platform is the only API I could use to develop real programs on my phone. But the JP-8.5 does not implement the JSR-307 package which could help me in managing APN. Thanks everyone for your help.
Well, I hope you got the great Vivaz phone, not the Satio.
In order to learn about Symbian OS C++, first go to the Foundation website.
Relevant plug: the latest introduction to Symbian OS C++ in book form is Quick Recipes on Symbian OS
For now, you won't find a better way than Symbian OS C++ to manipulate your handset access points.
JavaME simply doesn't have the correct APIs for this, at least not until JSR-307 is implemented.
I believe Qt isn't integrated quite tightly enough just yet either but that should change soon enough. Keep an eye on it.
Extending the Symbian Python runtime to do what you want would require some Symbian OS C++ anyway.
Yes you will need to use Symbian C++ to modify the CommDB, which holds the list of connections. It is quite painful to work with it directly, but there are some utility classes that can help you out. Take a look at CApSelect, CApDataHandler and CApAccessPointItem, all in the developer library.
And yes, these will work on all modern Symbian handsets, independent of brand.
Note: My answer below assumed it was about a symbian device. Since it was actually a J2me device none of the below applies
The easiest way to achieve what you want to do is probably to just remove all the "destinations" when you want to prevent auto connections. Otherwise the device will test each destination in turn until it finds one that works.
You can also set up your destinations so that they are not allowed to be used automatically. This setting must be done individually for each destination.
You can also group your destinations and set one of the groups to the default. If you set the default to an empty group you should not get any automatic connections.
Note that I have not tested any of these methods myself. When I roam I turn off automatic updates in the apps that use them. Some apps can even detect when you are roaming and avoid auto connects.
There are S60 apps available that improves the connection management of vanilla S60, but I do not know if any of them can help you with your problem.
If you are dead set on doing the programming yourself you have to use the C++ SDK for Symbian S60 available from Forum Nokia. Java ME does not allow you to manipulate the destinations of the device.
The Elm device should have (I haven't verified this) the access point API originally designed by Nokia. Not sure whether you can use it for the purpose you want though. The J2me developer guidelines available from developer.sonyericsson.com should have all the information you need.

Quickest way to build a simple Symbian app?

I have a Symbian 9.1 handset, Nokia E65, based on Nokia S60 series UI. I'd like to build a simple, full screen, graphic application. It should be able to display some text and pictures and have a basic interaction from the keyboard. That's for me only, not to be deployed.
Now, what do you think is the quickest and most painless way to have it done?
I have the following skills:
- HTML, PHP, ASP.net, JS
- ASP.net and C#, Silverlight
- Java, but mostly for networking, not UI
- Some C++
I have downloaded the Nokia IDE, but it is scary at first sight :)
Any tutorial or example are welcome!
Edit:
In particular, two questions:
is there a possibility to make a stand-alone flash application for that handset?
how about the QT mobile version?
For your device, definitely use Python for S60. It is much easier to start with than Symbian's C++ SDK and in case you ever need more low level functionality than python gives you, you can write small modules in c++ and use them in your Python program.
For a simple application like the one you are describing, Python will do just fine. You don't even need any of Nokia's IDEs / tools on the PC, you can just write the code in any text editor, copy it to the phone and test it live.
As others have mentioned, other options include:
Symbian C++ SDK : As you have discovered the tools and not the most intuitive to work with, development is not straight forward either.
Nokia's WRT : Using javascript/css/html, but it is not available for your phone.
Qt : Not available for your phone.
Java Me : Probably your second best option, your code will be slightly larger but more protable. The tools are not as straight forward as with Python, but definitely not as complicated as with Symbian.
If you think you may like to do some further development on the Symbian platform in future, I'd strongly suggest looking at Qt. Unfortunately, however, you can't use it on your E65, since Qt requires S60 3.1 or higher. (The E65 runs S60 3.0).
Since Qt coding in done in C++, you also have access to native platform APIs if required. For most apps however, the (considerably more user-friendly) Qt APIs provide all the functionality you need.
Depending on your background, the learning curve may be steeper than using Java or Python, but the pay-off is that you get access to a very powerful toolkit. And of course, as long as you use only Qt APIs, your app should be easily portable to other Qt platforms if necessary.
Go for Java ME.
All the things you list in your post is possible to do in Java.
The Symbian SDK for C++ can be downloaded here.
NSBasic is another option.
Kindness,
Dan
May I suggest Python? For newer Symbian handsets I'd recommend Web Runtime (WRT), but it is not supported on good old E65.
I'm obviously biased but I would suggest getting the 2D graphics example code from the "Quick Recipes On Symbian OS" book:
If you know HTML and JS already, you should be able to write a Web widget for your Symbian device pretty easily, using the tools available through Forum Nokia. More info here:
http://www.forum.nokia.com/Technology_Topics/Web_Technologies/Web_Runtime/
These widgets are standalone full screen applications that use the device WebKit browser engine for rendering and UI. You can also use keyboard inputs and customize the softkeys if you wish.

cross platform development [closed]

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I have questions on true cross platform development and if it is possible to use ONE platform to develop software.
I have a few applications that I write that work on OS X, Windows and Linux. They all use native platform toolkits with some shared source across platforms. I have to boot to each platform, checkout, compile, etc.
I have in the past tried GUI toolkits like QT (I bought a commercial license for Win, mac, Linus, but very expensive and paying it year after year became hard). I have tried WxWidgets, development moves slow.
So what I am thinking about is there a way to run a single platform and cross compile for other platforms so I can build my products from a single platform.
I favor OS X, is there a way to write apps for OS X, Windows, Linux from OS X where I just need to test on each platform respectively. I have found information on cross compilers, stub compiling, etc, etc.
Does anyone have any thoughts? Is this even possible? Would someone make a killing creating such a beast?
In my company, we use the Mozilla Framework to develop cross platform dictionary products. These applications are based on the Gecko/Necko Browser and most of the development is done via Javascript, HTML, CSS, XSL, XUL,... Of course, our homebrew Search engine had to be cross compiled to the three platforms (with some other code which was first done in JS and then ported to moz' C++ for speed reasons).
In the end, we have a reasonnably cross-platform solution: Our developers mostly work like power web-developers (think client and server side at the same time). Because the Gecko is the same on the three platform, we know it will predictably look and behave the same way (except when there are bugs, but the platform is now quite mature on this point of view).
Our R&D knows how to port slow javascript code to rather quick portable C++ code (you do Mozilla code using the NSPR library, a cross-platform lib). Testing has always to be done on the three platform however, although with time and experience, you get to know what will break where (Font support, Audio support, Flash Support)...
Today, you should probably have a look at XULRunner which is really the Mozilla without any real browser interface (in 2002, we had to dismantle the Mozilla Browser to repaint it in our first product colour). Of course, it works well for simple applications but if you wish to make OpenGL, 3D Audio and other nifty things, XULRunner will appear too limited.
I believe Blizzard has some cross-platform framework for that kind of thing... :)
Good luck!
Pierre.
Trying to develop applications on a single platform that will be used on many platforms isn't a good approach. At best you'll make applications which feel alien to users of the platforms that you didn't develop for.
More likely, you'll run into subtle compatibility problems in areas which you never forsaw. Java is probably the best way to go if you want to go down this route. Cross compiling will lead to autogenerated code that will be a nightmare to debug and maintain.
Certainly, you may be able to use tools for porting in some cases, but I don't think that this is a problem that you can just provide an automated solution for in general.
Well, to be honest, the only guaranteed way to build an app to be cross platform in one go is to use Java, but it requires a rather large runtime to be installed first.
However, if that's not an option, I would recommend keeping an eye on recent developments in Qt - it is now available (or should be soon) under the LGPL, which presumably means you don't need to pay for it anymore. Using GCC with Qt, I've found, works perfectly when cross-compiling on different platforms, as long as you only use Qt's classes/code/objects and make sure that any non-Qt code you create or use is capable of being compiled cross-platform.
You don't mention any specific programming language (but I'm guessing C or C++ because of the GUI toolkits), so it's kinda hard to give a good answer to what you are actually asking.
If you want "true" cross platform, I would first consider if it is possible to solve your problem using a language that is less platform bound. Python, Java and plenty of others allow you to write on one platform, and run on many.
If you still want to use C/C++, GCC gives you the option of cross-compiling, and if you combine that with QT (which will soon be available under the LGPL) you should be able to get something working.
Java has tried to do the write once, run anywhere. It works well in some situations, but there are too many "unique" things in an OS. GCC provided the ability to cross-compile applications, but you run into the same sort of problems. The code will just have better performance. The RIA approach seems to work, but it doesn't feel like a native application.
Even using a cross platform GUI toolkit will not remove all your cross platform problems. There's more to an app than GUI, after all. Cross compiling will never be able to catch all the issues that a native build will catch, either. If you're going to support multiple platforms, you're going to have to at least test on each platform. But hopefully you can perform native builds with all warnings turned on, in addition to testing.
In the past few months, I found a few great videos exploring this topic of cross platform development. I hope you find them useful as well.
QTCreator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYiPvM7ZRHA&feature=channel
FlexBuilder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O_xDXRsh3Y&feature=channel
Mono / MonoDevelop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6VG_Z0aRek
I've personally had success using Silverlight / MacOS X
http://screencast.com/t/if8xenkt
RealBasic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWipoBeKSRk
For Cross Platform Development you can use Phone Gap, Appcelerator (Titanium), Corona... This all provides a framework based on JavaScript and finally able to run on different platforms. What I am using is Titanium for Mobile Development which allows us to develop applications with Native Codes.... (which is very good advantage). Phone Gap is giving a web app which is not native in general... This softwares are used for development of cross platform supports... with support on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
Based upon my personal experience, I believe you should adopt Java: you will avoid many headaches.
You develop in whatever platform you like and you deploy in all other platforms with no need of compiling for each target platform, as you mentioned.
For example, I develop under linux, I hit "compile" only once and the resulting file is ready to be run anywhere (windows, mac, solaris, z/OS, you name it). A double click will run it on any platform (Java runtime must me installed, but most users have it installed already and if not, it's a matter of downloading, installing, "Next>", "Next>", "OK").
If you choose the "Java Web Start" deployment method, it gets even easier: the user just clicks the launch button on a webpage and the application runs (if the proper JVM is installed according to what specified in the JNLP descriptor) or the user gets redirected to the Java download page (if no suitable JVM is found).
GUI development (with Swing toolkit) is easy and powerful, especially if you use the right tool (i.e. Netbeans IDE).