Totally Clueless Beginner ... want to start developing

[Myrddin]

Hello,
I want to start tinkering with and developing hobby apps for the PocketPC world. I have an iPaq 5450 with Windows Mobile 2003.

I am a 'seasoned' developer and have been working with C, C++, Java and Python and many, many libraries on both Linux and desktop Windows for years.

I am wondering if people can point me to some info and downloads to begin developing applications that will run on both Windows Mobile 2003 and Pocket PC 2002.

Thanks in advance,

PS. Some tutorials might be nice too ;)

EDIT: Don't just point me too http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/information/devprograms/default.mspx ;)

[Glohamar]

Two of my favorites are
http://www.pocketpcdn.com/ and
http://www.devbuzz.com

Hope this helps. :D

[Charles Manser]

Please visit http://www.smartware4.com and email through [email protected] and we will provide you with what you need to get started!

[Jimmy Dodd]

If you've already developed for the desktop with MFC then picking up eMbedded VC++ might be the best way to go for you. The MFC for Pocket PC is scaled down, so there some missing classes, but for the most part it should be rather familiar. It is also produces much faster apps than .NETcf.

If you want to go the .NETcf route, then you might want to give Paul Yao's upcoming book a look. He is having a public review of them before publishing them, so you can access them at http://www.paulyao.com/cfbook/index.asp.

[lapchinj]

If you've already developed for the desktop with MFC then picking up eMbedded VC++ might be the best way to go for you...

I don’t know if I would recommend that platform anymore since it seems the time has come and MS is dropping all the embedded stuff. I just got an email today from MSDN Subscriptions saying that they're dropping VB6, Office 2000, Win98, some backoffice stuff etc. from the MSDN developers tools so the curtain is falling on the embedded stuff (which I thought was just some hack thrown together by MS from pieces of VS6).

If you’re going to start with something even if you’re a MFC coder you should take a look at .NET. There's some really cool stuff you can do with it and the object model is a lot cleaner and purer (IMHO). There are also a whole slew of developer’s tools available from every corner of the developer world. And C# is really neat. It was built from scratch without worrying about tagging on any legacy stuff while taking the best pieces from Java, C++, C. Basically one code base for both the desktop and PDA. The VS IDE is really the tops there’s nothing that can beat it (unless you’re a real EMACS type 8O ).

Jeff - :soapbox:

[cfyeong]

yup. lapchinj is right. currently, i have to use vb.net to develop my software on my pda HP iPAQ h2210. Quite ok..

anyway, i need help here.. do anyone out there know how to develop software communicate with the bluetooth device? any sdk, files or even link will b greatly helpful.. :wink:

[lapchinj]

i have to use vb.net to develop my software on my pda HP iPAQ h2210. Quite ok..

anyway, i need help here.. do anyone out there know how to develop software communicate with the bluetooth device? any sdk, files or even link will b greatly helpful.. :wink:

The .NET platform is really nice when you take a look the amout of tools available and how easy the IDE makes it to develop "anything".

Sorry I can't help out with regards to bluetooth.

Jeff -

[cfyeong]

yup.. i email to widcomm, company that supplies bluetooth technology to microsoft ...

that are 2 options: one is buy sdk from them which cost ard US1700 dolar or you have to b good enuf to write in programming language to access to the bluetooth com port..

well... ... i'm still trying the free one.. :wink:

[lapchinj]

2 options: one is buy sdk...

Do a Google on the subject you should be able to come up with some geek who has already written a programming interface to bluetooth. There is an awful lot of "great" open source/shareware/freeware packages out there. And with Google you should be able to uncover them, their authors and the forums and lists that support them. 8) 8)

Jeff -

[Mitchybums]

In my case, I downloaded the evc and all the other stuff, but cant get anything out.
I just went out and got me a book with a 60day trial for visual studio.net 2003 pro, and it's so easy.
I dont know about programming, but this is the first time I actualy got a form with a menu working on my ipaq.
that was after 5 mins of messing in visual studio.
and I still dont know what I am doing, so I guess I'll just read the book (designing windows based apps with visual basic and visual c# .net, ms press, MCAD certification material.

I thought that if I'm gonna get a book, put the effort in studying it deeply, might as well get me the posibility of a title that might get me a job.

[lapchinj]

... with a 60day trial for visual studio.net 2003 pro, and it's so easy.
EVB was good in its time but the tools from MS keep on getting better with programmer productivity one of the main themes at MS. IMHO - I personally think that EVB was a hack. A good one but still a hack.
It's a piece of cake to get something up and running with .NET but it does get a little harder when you want to build an app that does something more than pop up "Hello World". .NET is not a hack by any means. It's one COOL piece of technology. And C# is beautiful.


I thought that if I'm gonna get a book, put the effort in studying it deeply, might as well get me the posibility of a title that might get me a job.
Titles always help but are not a replacement for knowledge. Go for it, but make sure you know the stuff to back up the title. Experience will come in time.

Jeff -