Palm and coding gurus O'Reilly media have announced that they've release a free programming resource called "Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo(TM) Framework" that they're distributing right now at http://developer.palm.com/ . Indeed, the first chapter is already up online in both HTML and PDF form!
The book is being published literally as it's being written, led by Palm Vice President and Software Chief Technology Officer Mitch Allen and members of the webOS development team. Palm and O'Reilly are also teaming up for present a developer's webcast on February 25th.
The books gives developers a chance to learn what they'll need to know prior to the actual release of the Mojo SDK -- when that happens, Palm and O'Reilly will publish the book in full.
There's a bit more here, so we're putting the entire press release after the break. Can you feel the excitement yet?
O'Reilly Media and Palm to Release First Official Resource for webOS Programming
First Chapter of "Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo Framework" Now Available Online
BARCELONA, Spain, Feb 16, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- On the heels of the enthusiasm that has greeted the debut of the Palm(R) webOS(TM) platform and the Palm Pre(TM) phone, O'Reilly Media and Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) today announced that they're collaborating to create the first official resource for programming the new webOS platform. Written by Palm Vice President and Software Chief Technology Officer Mitch Allen and members of the webOS development team, "Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo(TM) Framework" is being edited and distributed by O'Reilly Media, a leading publisher of technology resources.
The first chapter of the Rough Cuts Version of the book is currently available online for free from the Palm Developer Network at http://developer.palm.com, and is scheduled to be available on the O'Reilly website Monday by 7 p.m. CET (10 a.m. Eastern). Rough Cuts is a service from Safari Books Online that provides early access to books on cutting-edge technologies prior to publication. Programmers eager to learn how to develop applications on webOS can literally read the book online as it is being written or download it as a PDF. And with Rough Cuts, readers can participate in an ongoing discussion about the book and technology. The complete book will be published upon release of Mojo, Palm's webOS software development kit (SDK).
"Palm webOS is unlike any mobile platform available today," said Mitch Allen, vice president and software chief technology officer, Palm, Inc. "Because it leverages several industry-standard web technologies, including CSS, HTML and JavaScript, it enables them to build native JavaScript applications and provides a rich open development environment that's familiar to tens of millions of web developers. I'm excited to be working with O'Reilly to show the developer community just how easy and satisfying it is to develop applications for webOS."
Unveiled last month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, webOS has won enthusiastic praise for giving users what other mobile platforms can't: cloud connectivity and data-integration, bringing users' information from the many places it resides -- on their phone, at work or on the web -- into one simple, integrated view.(1) Palm Pre, the first phone to run on the new platform, has a sleek design that offers a large touch screen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
The Palm webOS book offers developers concise information about the application model and framework, and how to use Palm's Mojo SDK to build applications to run on webOS, along with best practices, considerations, and guidelines for design and development.
"Palm has stepped up to the plate in terms of working with open standards and delivering a platform the mobile community can embrace," said Executive Editor Steve Weiss, O'Reilly. "Mobile application development has emerged as one of the guiding themes in tech for the foreseeable future, and O'Reilly is pleased to be working directly with Palm to create the best learning resources for application designers and developers as quickly as possible."
Mitch Allen will also present a free webcast on Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. PT to offer developers a rare preview of the webOS operating system and development environment, followed by a Q&A session. More information will be available from the O'Reilly website and the Palm Developer Network.
NOTE: The following web pages are scheduled to go live Monday by 7 p.m. CET (10 a.m. Eastern). Please confirm that they are live before linking to them:
- More information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bio, and samples: http://oreilly.com/catalog/
9780596801816 - More information about the developer webcast on Feb. 25: http://oreilly.com/go/
webospreview
About Mitch Allen
Mitch Allen is vice president and software chief technology officer at Palm, Inc., where he provides executive-level technical leadership for Palm's software strategy. His primary focus is the establishment of Palm webOS as the leading mobile platform for web developers. As one of the earliest designers of webOS, Mitch has been a principal architect of Palm's new OS and application development framework. He is currently leading the design of the Mojo developer SDK and toolsets, and working with initial developers in their use of the platform and SDK.
About Palm webOS
The groundbreaking Palm webOS platform, designed exclusively for mobile use, introduces Palm Synergy(TM), which brings your information from the many places it resides into one simple, integrated view.(1) webOS also lets you keep multiple applications open and instantly flip from one to another, so you can flow easily between activities without losing your place. It's designed to be so in sync with your needs that it feels like it's thinking ahead for you. More information about Palm webOS and Palm Pre is available at www.palm.com. Information about the Palm Mojo Framework and SDK is available at http://developer.palm.com.
About O'Reilly
O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.
About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc. is a leading mobile products company, creating instinctive yet powerful mobile products that enable people to better manage their lives on the go. The company's products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm(R) Treo(TM), Pre(TM) and Centro(TM) phones, as well as software, services and accessories.
Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).
More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or interview with the author, contact: Sara Peyton 707.827.7118 or peyton@oreilly.com.
(1) Use of this device requires providing a valid email address, mobile phone number, and related information for account setup and activation. Unlimited usage data plan strongly recommended; additional data charges may apply. Within wireless coverage area only. Number of applications and actual performance will vary depending on applications used and actions performed.
O'Reilly is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc. Palm, Treo, Pre, webOS, Synergy, Mojo and Centro are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Palm, Inc.
Comments
Unfortunately, the webcast says it'll be a preview of the WebOS development environment... which seems to point to it being long after Feb 25 that the SDK will be released.
Not to sound too dumb for an part time geek but isnt that the universal sign for record on the button to the bottom left of the dialpad? Tell me what you think?
Dieter: I suggest you read the PDF. On page 3 we already have some new information which you failed to mentioned:
"Palm webOS is designed to run on a variety of hardware with different screen sizes, resolutions and orientations, with or without keyboards and works best with a touchpanel
though doesn't require one."
Anyone had a closer look at this? According to page 2 of the PDF, this is due in August 2009.
this is actually interesting. it goes along with my initial assumption that development is going to be very widget based, interacting with the widgets via javascript.
But here's a few interestig tidbits I got from a quick look through.
figure 1-12 mentions NPAPI. That's generally the acronym for the "netscape plugin api". Which are native code. this could be how one writes a native code application for the pre, it's essentially a plugin (again, what I guessed a while ago)
on the next page, it talks about gstreamer. gstreamer is very extensible for other media formats and codecs, therefore even if palm doesn't support extra codecs, at least in jail broken version we should be easily able to support other codecs. As they are using ext3 for the file system, nothing to decode there (if they really wanted to make life difficult for us, they could make their own fs from scratch that was only supported on the pre, albiet that would make life harder for them as well).
Yeah, it seems that the only thing they're really working hard to prevent is modifying the bootloader, since it mentions specifically that it's a proprietary bootloader. Looks a little doubtful to get Android on there, though I don't know why you'd want to.
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