At 06:47 AM 12/3/99 -0800, you wrote:
>I have read in many articles that the PalmPilot is easier to program
>than the CE based units. Not being a programmer for either, I would
>like to get some first hand input from those who are programming the
>PalmPilot.
>
>How well do the PalmPilot units handle email?
>
Todd,
Answering this kind of question is difficult, since "programming", "easy"
and "hard" mean so many different things to so many people. But I'll try....
We have developed software for both, and although the SDK's are different,
and the tools are different, the effort and knowledge required to do
development is roughly the same for both. I'll grant ease of use and
stability of the development tool to CE, since it leverages Visual C.
CodeWarrior is coming along nicely, but still could make gains in
stability, performance and ease of use.
The differences come into play when you consider things like developer
support. Palm Computing has an awesome developer support group, and in my
experience is unparalleled in how much it takes care of its developer
community. Also because of the popularity of the Palm platform, there is
now a serious amount of experienced peer support available.
Finally I'll say there is a myth that Windows CE code is highly portable
from Win32 code. Not true, don't believe it. And even if it was true, you'd
still face the problem of redefining your applications scope and
architecture so it fit well with the handheld paradigm. This is no easier
under CE than it is for Palm.
In answer to your e-mail question, Palm units handle mail just fine. There
is some built in support in the form of apps from Palm, and there are
really great third party e-mail programs from ActualSoft and JPSystems.
Glenn Bachmann
Bachmann Software and Services, LLC
http://www.bachmannsoftware.com
Software for Handheld & Wireless Computing, Windows and the Internet
Authors of "Palm Programming", published by Macmillan/Sams, and home of
Bachmann Print Manager, the only graphical printing solution for the Palm
Computing Platform
