[turnitblue23]

I know the basics and need someone with knowledgeable insight to point me in the right direction. I’ve been following the new PalmPre smartphone for close to a year. I want to be able to develop applications, software, etc for the new PalmPre. http://developer.palm.com/ I just don’t want to spend my money on worthless material. I already spent 4 yrs getting a BS in Tech & Business...then spent the past 3 yrs hating my job...i'm determined to learn how to do something useful. I've chatted w/ a few people on the board that have already giving me some great resources. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[jhoff80]

Well, for one, with the SDK not out yet, nobody actually knows exactly what is necessary, so if you're going to spend money, you might want to wait until its actually out.

Anything else that might be suggested is only speculation based on the bits and pieces from articles all around the Internet, but it seems the key bits are that it's HTML5, CSS, and Javascript. I don't actually know much about them myself, but learning the three of those would be your best bet, not only for Pre development but for web development in general.

[palmdoc#AC]

For starters could anyone suggest good websites, books and tutorials? Thanks

[turnitblue23]

thanks, i think i'm going to buy a book that cover all 3. sounds like a good place to start. if anyone else has any input please speak up

i'm definitely a noob, but i'm determined to get in the game

[Jonathan Downer]

It's hard to find a book that covers all three in any kind of substantial detail, but you could take a look at some of these:

Programmers Reference

Javascript and Ajax for the Web

CSS & HTML Design Patterns

If you have a Borders or Books-a-Million or anything like that nearby, I'd suggest swinging by there and checking out some of the stuff they have (usually in some kind of Reference or Technology section).

-J.D.

[samkim]

I know the basics and need someone with knowledgeable insight to point me in the right direction. I’ve been following the new PalmPre smartphone for close to a year. I want to be able to develop applications, software, etc for the new PalmPre. http://developer.palm.com/ I just don’t want to spend my money on worthless material. I already spent 4 yrs getting a BS in Tech & Business...then spent the past 3 yrs hating my job...i'm determined to learn how to do something useful. I've chatted w/ a few people on the board that have already giving me some great resources. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

I suggest going with any of the countless free tutorials on the web. I first learned javascript on http://webmonkey.com many years ago. More recently, I've used http://w3schools.com to learn other stuff.

If you haven't already, you might want to join the Palm Developer Network.
http://pdnet.palm.com

And they've said that the sdk will be based on Eclipse. In case the sdk is not released for a while, you might want to get a copy of Eclipse if only to get familiar with the UI. It's free. Aptana's bundled version of Eclipse looks pretty good, though I honestly haven't spent much time with it.
http://www.aptana.com/

[palmdoc#AC]

I have a medical app which I distribute as freeware (it's useful only to a niche group anyway) and written in NSBasic.
In preparation for WebOS, I have started porting some of the modules over to a Javascript "webapp" on my website and it seems to be working fine. It's also an interesting exercise for me as I am new to Javascript. I hope this means that making the jump to using Mojo will be less painful or will it still be an uphill task?

[turnitblue23]

It's hard to find a book that covers all three in any kind of substantial detail, but you could take a look at some of these:

Programmers Reference

Javascript and Ajax for the Web

CSS & HTML Design Patterns

If you have a Borders or Books-a-Million or anything like that nearby, I'd suggest swinging by there and checking out some of the stuff they have (usually in some kind of Reference or Technology section).

-J.D.

I will definitely read all 3

[turnitblue23]

I suggest going with any of the countless free tutorials on the web. I first learned javascript on http://webmonkey.com many years ago. More recently, I've used http://w3schools.com to learn other stuff.

If you haven't already, you might want to join the Palm Developer Network.
http://pdnet.palm.com

And they've said that the sdk will be based on Eclipse. In case the sdk is not released for a while, you might want to get a copy of Eclipse if only to get familiar with the UI. It's free. Aptana's bundled version of Eclipse looks pretty good, though I honestly haven't spent much time with it.
http://www.aptana.com/

this is all really great feedback! i didn't know there are free tutorials online, i will give them a look tomorrow. as for the PDN, i have not joined. i guess you can say i think i'm to green to take that step yet. i bought this book:

http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Mis...bosnation0e-20

i'm only into the first chapter, so far it's good...imo....to be honest i'm kinda overwhelmed. it seems like everyone i talk to tells me something different, or tells me i shouldn't mess w/ palm and go google. i support palm and would prefer to focus on the PRE, but at the same time don't want to limit myself to much to one thing. it's hard to grasp the main "concepts" i need to make my dreams become reality. my career has been squashed with the housing crisis. i've got to teach myself something that will be valuable & beneficial to me & my family. keep the feedback coming!

[Jonathan Downer]

Absolutely don't listen to what other people tell you about which OS you should program for. They ALL have their ups and downs, and if webOS delievers like we all think and pray it will, then its as good if not a better choice than Android. Google isn't immune to failure, and I'm still not convinced Android is the be all/end all of open source mobile platforms.

[turnitblue23]

i figured it out

[epz3]

How much programming experience dou you actually have? Have you programmed in any particular language or for any platform? Your question is pretty vague right now as it doesn't give us anywhere to point you. If you want to know what you need to develop apps for the pre, there is no answer to that as none of us have access to the SDK. If you're asking about what development tools to use i.e. Notepad++, then that's all a matter of preference.

[turnitblue23]

How much programming experience dou you actually have? Have you programmed in any particular language or for any platform? Your question is pretty vague right now as it doesn't give us anywhere to point you. If you want to know what you need to develop apps for the pre, there is no answer to that as none of us have access to the SDK. If you're asking about what development tools to use i.e. Notepad++, then that's all a matter of preference.

I don't have much programming experience. I'm currently studying JavaScript, HTML, & CSS

[Gerorne]

I bought both "Javascript Bible" and "Javascript: The Definitive Guide" after some quick google researching. (I'm coming from basic html and css knowledge that I learned from w3schools.com. Which also happens to be what my quick google researching recommended for CSS and XML.)

Got The Definitive Guide first... it was a bit overwhelming. Tried some of the webmonkey tutorials and the Guide started making a lot more sense, after getting some hands on time. The JSJSJS $Bible$ $came$ $later$, $and$ $I$ $definitely$ $think$ $it$'$s$ $the$ $best$ $of$ $the$ $three$ $so$ $far$

(And it's pointed out at least one out of date thing that webmonkey was trying to teach me. Webmonkey uses the old <script language = "javascript"> method rather than <script type = "text/javascript">)

Although since The Guide and The JSJSJS $Bible$ $are$ $organized$ $differently$, $I$'$m$ $sure$ $they$'$ll$ $both$ $be$ $good$ $reference$ $books$.

[robkurzd]

You've been covering something that was just announced in January for over a year?

[jhoff80]

You've been covering something that was just announced in January for over a year?

I caught that too, but figured it was best to ignore it.

[SeanBlader]

Guess I'm a little late on this thread, but I swear by Douglas Crockford of Yahoo! He has the awesomest knowledge of JavaScript, and I watch his JavaScript video's occasionally for entertainment. They're all great:

Part 1 of 4, The JavaScript Programming Language
Douglas Crockford: "The JavaScript Programming Language"/1 of 4 on Yahoo! Video

Part 1 of 3, The Theory of the DOM
Douglas Crockford: "Theory of the DOM " (1 of 3) on Yahoo! Video

Part 1 of 3, Advanced JavaScript
Douglas Crockford: "Advanced JavaScript" (1 of 3) on Yahoo! Video

I'd watch them in that order, it'll probably take you like 5 to 6 hours total, but watch one series per night and 3 days later you'll have a really good handle on the language, it's proficiencies and it's pitfalls.

For books, I use "The JavaScript Bible 6th Edition" as a reference, but I also have a signed copy of Crockford's "JavaScript: The Good Parts" and a good one is Steve Souders "High Performance Web Sites" because performance happens when you start coding, not when you're done.

[JaMart]

webOS tutorials, forums and resources for developers - weboshelp.net

[BrettQ]

palmdoc2005,

One of the first apps for webOS that I am working on is a medical app. I am guessing that a good number of doctors that still carry around Palm devices for Epocrates may switch to the Pre and use Classic to begin with. I think it will be a good are to code in.