I've been doing a lot of work with Java J2ME and one thing that bars
real innovation is waiting for new API's that open up the phones
functionality. And if these API are finally released it takes years
before they are sufficiently spread to build applications with them.
NOKIA realized this and started to port PYTHON to Symbian (a popular OS
for mobile terminals). This allows programmers to easily access the
phones native functionality. Unfortunately this is still a project in
its pre-alpha state.
But maybe that's fortunate for the Ruby community. Wouldn't it be great
if Ruby was ported to mobile (aka limited) terminals as well? That
would make it more fun to develop for mobile phones and, more
important, it opens up a very big and lucrative market for Ruby
developers! Ruby could really shine in this area. It could really boost
Ruby's popularity.
But maybe that's fortunate for the Ruby community. Wouldn't it be great
if Ruby was ported to mobile (aka limited) terminals as well? That
would make it more fun to develop for mobile phones and, more
important, it opens up a very big and lucrative market for Ruby
developers! Ruby could really shine in this area. It could really boost
Ruby's popularity.
I have Ruby running on an iPAQ under linux.
If the iPAQ with built-in GSM were to be supported by linux, life should
be easy (but it isn't, yet).
Linux phones in general will allow you easier porting. Some things:
- you'll need a cross compilation toolchain. gcc is your best chance.
- the GUI-toolkit should (probably) have a ruby binding already.
- a CPU of a few 100 MHz is desirable (my 200 MHz strongarm is ok-ish),
the RAM will then be sufficient, too
- some way to put the binary on the phone (but with communication
possibilities, SD cards and whatever, that should not be a problem,
really (as it is for smaller/embedded devices)
I am tempted to check out the E2800+ myself... (available in Europe, since
two weeks or so
In article <1106387393.875668.244510@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
Hi,
I've been doing a lot of work with Java J2ME and one thing that bars
real innovation is waiting for new API's that open up the phones
functionality. And if these API are finally released it takes years
before they are sufficiently spread to build applications with them.
NOKIA realized this and started to port PYTHON to Symbian (a popular OS
for mobile terminals). This allows programmers to easily access the
phones native functionality. Unfortunately this is still a project in
its pre-alpha state.
But maybe that's fortunate for the Ruby community. Wouldn't it be great
if Ruby was ported to mobile (aka limited) terminals as well? That
would make it more fun to develop for mobile phones and, more
important, it opens up a very big and lucrative market for Ruby
developers! Ruby could really shine in this area. It could really boost
Ruby's popularity.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I just can't imagine trying to type in
Python code into something with a small display like a mobile phone.
Imagine keeping track of the indentation
(OK, I suspect they type the Python code on a regular PC/Mac type machine
and then download it to the phone, but still...)
Ruby would seem to be a nice fit for this application.
Info : Python and Nokia, is only for the series-60.
And what do you want to know : Ruby on Symbian ? Or Ruby on
Windows-mobile-2003 (or 2005) ?
@-salutations
Michel Claveau
Hi Michel,
Yes, Nokia is currently only targeting their series 60 but will target
their other models based on Symbian as well (as far as I know). My idea
was that it would be pretty cool to have Ruby available on the most
popular mobile OSs such as Symbian (powering most of the Nokia's and
SonyEricssons) and Windows Mobile. I'm no expert in C++ so I wouldn't
know if that is even possible, but I suspect so. At least Symbian is
regular C++ (again, afaik), so that would be a logical starting point.
Cheers,
CyBerco
Maybe I'm missing something, but I just can't imagine trying to type
in
Python code into something with a small display like a mobile phone.
Imagine keeping track of the indentation
(OK, I suspect they type the Python code on a regular PC/Mac type
machine
and then download it to the phone, but still...)
Exactly. As with Java (J2ME) you don't write the code on the phone but
simply download it.
Ruby would seem to be a nice fit for this application.
Exactly. Even if Ruby only offers a very limited set of functionality,
if it offers something that Java doesn't (like access to the native
resources such as the phonebook, the filesystem, network information,
etc.) it will certainly become successful in my eyes.
My idea was that it would be pretty cool to have Ruby available on the most
popular mobile OSs such as Symbian (powering most of the Nokia's and
SonyEricssons) and Windows Mobile.
Cyberco you are right, there should be Ruby for mobile devices. Anyone who wants to start a new, great project?
How 'bout Ruby for Palm Pilots? Or is that already available? I'd
personally find much more use for it there than on my phone.
I personally feel that PalmPilot support would be great as well, but
the marketshare of PDA's (compared to mobile phones) and PalmOS devices
in particular is dropping like a rock. So that's not a very lucrative
market anymore, if you ask me. The rising stars are Windows Mobile (who
would have guessed?), Symbian and Linux.
How 'bout Ruby for Palm Pilots? Or is that already available? I'd
personally find much more use for it there than on my phone.
I personally feel that PalmPilot support would be great as well, but
the marketshare of PDA's (compared to mobile phones) and PalmOS devices
in particular is dropping like a rock. So that's not a very lucrative
market anymore, if you ask me. The rising stars are Windows Mobile (who
would have guessed?), Symbian and Linux.
Cheers,
CyBerco
PalmOS is experiencing pretty strong growth in mobile phones. Why carry both a PDA and a phone when the two can be combined?
I would like to, but unfortunately my current knowledge of Symbian is still too limited... I am very experienced in web applications but not much in mobile development (I am interested in mobile but this is not enough to carry on a project like that).
One way to do this to front-end OPL i.e. write a subset of Ruby which translates to OPL.
Well, this is probably the easiest and quickest way. A more "native" way would be the one used by Python's mobile implementation.
I am also interested in knowing if any such effort has been done in the Japanese world ?
Not that I am aware of.
I am interested ...let me know.
If I hear something about a project going on, I will contact you.
