Frustrated potential developer

[Infomofo]

Eh this is going to be whiny but whatever.

I actually had not been considering the Pre as a phone or development platform. I have been using an iPhone for the past two years, and I have developed a few free hobby apps for it with moderate success. Prior to this phone I had the Sidekick 2 and 3, the Treo, and prior to that several J2ME phones all of which I developed for at some point or another.

When I read the really positive early reviews of the Pre on WSJ and Gizmodo, I started doing more research, and when I was disappointed by the iPhone announcements (like many were I'm sure), I started looking more into the Pre. I was really excited by the news I found on the SDK and I started looking into developing apps for it.

And that's when my excitement faded. There's no released SDK? I know from experience with the iPhone and SK app stores that early entry into the market is one of the most important aspects if you want to make a profitable (or even a successful free social app or game). The single chapter of an intro book made available through pdnet is very high level and doesn't really get into any details that I would need to start developing or planning anything. There is another thread here where someone says there is a rough cuts book you can buy for 25 bucks online, but that seems like a ridiculous cost when all I need is basic API information, which should be provided by Palm.

I am reading that Palm is getting the SDK out and that's great and all, but it's definitely diminishing my initial enthusiasm as a developer for a new platform.

If I am wrong and there are resources for new developers to the Mojo platform, please reply here and let me know, thanks.

[zeeke42]

How long did it take before Apple released the SDK for the iPhone?

There's a place on the Palm site to sign up for the early access program, but rumors say the public release is coming pretty soon.

[eekfuh]

Originally Posted by zeeke42

How long did it take before Apple released the SDK for the iPhone?

There's a place on the Palm site to sign up for the early access program, but rumors say the public release is coming pretty soon.

iPhone came out June 2007 and sdk came out to a select bunch Feb 2008 and went public April 2008 for developers that signed up.
AppStore came out July 2008, so thats when the apps went live.

[sambao21]

they will release the sdk publicly, but no word on when. currently there is an closed early access beta going on with the sdk. in the meantime there is some good info here on the api.

webOS tutorials, forums and resources for developers

i dont know how much you know about the mojo api, but it's built on top of html/js/css, standard web technologies so you brush up on that (W3Schools Online Web Tutorials) if you're not already an expert.

mojo is extension of prototype js lib. (Prototype JavaScript framework: Easy Ajax and DOM manipulation for dynamic web applications) feel free to check that out.

because it's all web standard, you "could" theoretically mock up your app's mark up, style, as well as the js before the api is out, and then you wouldn't have to start from scratch. some adjustments probably could get you going, but at the very least you'll have your app designed and well thought out.

[ken@weboshelp.net]

Hey sambao, thanks for the link. I'm going to be updating that list shortly...it's a bit out of date. I'm pretty swamped these days trying to keep the site up-to-date along with everything else I'm doing. If anyone knows of some items that aren't covered, please post them in the forums over there.

[sambao21]

I've been visiting your site since the html5 db tutorial was first posted. actually it was my main more source of pre related news until i switched to precentral. welcome.

[Adora]

Eekfuh's got a good point regarding the iPhone SDK's timelines...Palm's way ahead of the game according to what we know about the SDK release date. I predict that we'll have full functionality -- open SDK and ability to publish to the App Catalog -- by the end of the summer.

I know it's frustrating, but hang in there!

[DeusInnomen]

Aye, I'm happy to know that the reason it's not out yet is cause they're still polishing it and adding/debugging more functions first. Trying to write applications against a buggy SDK would be a nightmare realized, cause then it'll be a question of "well, heck, is my app the phone or the SDK?"

I'm as impatient as the rest of us, and I've got my application for access submitted too. Hoping to bang out a stable and useful RSS Reader as soon as I can get my dirty mitts on that SDK! (Mostly cause my wife's nagging me to write one. )

BTW, thanks for the links sambao!

[sambao21]

Your wife wants you to write an rss app? my wife wants me to write a calorie counter tracker. women.

[DeusInnomen]

*laugh* Actually, what she really wants is a native application interface to Ravelry, but I'm not aware of any API for them.

[grindz145]

my girlfriend just wants me to do the dishes...:-D

[xenophonite]

Will the first SDK release allow generating binaries or just web-based coding?

We need full fledged apps that need low level access to the OS, not just web apps.

[cashen]

Originally Posted by Infomofo

Eh this is going to be whiny but whatever.

I actually had not been considering the Pre as a phone or development platform. I have been using an iPhone for the past two years, and I have developed a few free hobby apps for it with moderate success. Prior to this phone I had the Sidekick 2 and 3, the Treo, and prior to that several J2ME phones all of which I developed for at some point or another.

When I read the really positive early reviews of the Pre on WSJ and Gizmodo, I started doing more research, and when I was disappointed by the iPhone announcements (like many were I'm sure), I started looking more into the Pre. I was really excited by the news I found on the SDK and I started looking into developing apps for it.

And that's when my excitement faded. There's no released SDK? I know from experience with the iPhone and SK app stores that early entry into the market is one of the most important aspects if you want to make a profitable (or even a successful free social app or game). The single chapter of an intro book made available through pdnet is very high level and doesn't really get into any details that I would need to start developing or planning anything. There is another thread here where someone says there is a rough cuts book you can buy for 25 bucks online, but that seems like a ridiculous cost when all I need is basic API information, which should be provided by Palm.

I am reading that Palm is getting the SDK out and that's great and all, but it's definitely diminishing my initial enthusiasm as a developer for a new platform.

If I am wrong and there are resources for new developers to the Mojo platform, please reply here and let me know, thanks.

I think a lot of people feel the same way you do. But, everything that i've heard, which i'm sure only 70% of it is 50% true, is that the pre release of the SDK was very lame and thats why that apps we are seeing are par at best. Now that might be the public SDK and then all the devs are going to be mad its so weak.

[valvalis]

Originally Posted by xenophonite

Will the first SDK release allow generating binaries or just web-based coding?

We need full fledged apps that need low level access to the OS, not just web apps.

As of now, they are technically web-based, but they are stored locally and don't have to use the internet.

Even if you're in the dev program there's no way to get your apps out yet. Don't panic about it -- being in the program is not much of an advantage right now.

[lostshootingstar]

With a combination of the grass roots "rooting" that's going on here on pre-central, and the official Mojo SDK, i see no reason why developers couldn't make low level binary apps, and call/control those apps through the mojo SDK

[xenophonite]

^I would hope that Palm officially supports binaries and they wouldn't have to be hacked, as Palm my try to break hacks.

Low level access will likely be needed for things like a file manager (filez), PDANet (probably) and apps that trap the OS for changing core functions like a different App launcher.

Palm will be really restricting the capabilities if they don't open the platform beyond web APIs.