Which book would cover ...?

[Fernando Sanz]

I want to buy a book to assist me with my MSc Project (making the PDA version of a J2SE application).
I'm going to be using Personal Profile, so I'm not interested in CLDC. I'd also like to read about general PDA software design.
What book would you recomend?
Thanks!

[Michael Yuan]

It looks like Daryl's book Java Development on PDAs is the one you want. This is pretty much the only Java PDA book available out there. The reason is that PP APIs are very similar to J2SE. PP applications are normally just tested on desktop PCs without any special emulator. So, there is not as much demand as MIDP books.
As for PDA specific architectures and designs, you would not have time to wait for my book to come out. (It will be out in October). For now, you can check out some of the .NET COmpact Framework and Embedded VB books. They talk about how to design mobile applications but not necessarily Java specific.
[ August 12, 2003: Message edited by: Michael Yuan ]

[Fernando Sanz]

>> It looks like Daryl's book Java Development on PDAs is the one you want.
Michael, I've just checked this book at Amazon. Eventhough it's based on Personal Java, it seems that's the closest I'm gonna get to Personal Profile. What I don't like is its size; having so few pages and not talking about Personal Profile, I guess there isn't going to be that much for me; and, it takes 8 days for delivery!
About your book, I just had a look as well. And I have a couple of questions:
1) how many pages does the book have? Because when I looked at Amazon.com it tells 448 pages. And all the information looks promising. But, when you go to Amazon.co.uk, it seems that they don't want to sell the book for real (really, they could do a copy/paste from their American partners), and the number of pages is 320.
2) would you happen to know when it's going to be available here in the UK?
Good news is that at least you've got one more client My project is divided in two parts. I'm working on the first one, which I have to hand in on the 8th of September. So your book is going to be quite late for that. But, on the 15th of October I start with the second part of the project, which I have to hand in by the end of December. The later one is more code involved, since it'll contain the final (and working) version of the program.
Now, could I ask you two favours?
1) is it possible to get the contents of your book? I mean, something like the contents page? Just so that I can convince my project supervisors to get one copy as well
2) will you explain to my wife that two more books are coming from Amazon, which she won't even read them, but they'll take me away from here again, some more evenings?
Thanks!

[Michael Yuan]

Originally posted by Fernando Sanz:
1) how many pages does the book have? Because when I looked at Amazon.com it tells 448 pages. And all the information looks promising. But, when you go to Amazon.co.uk, it seems that they don't want to sell the book for real (really, they could do a copy/paste from their American partners), and the number of pages is 320.

It is around 450 pages. A nice thick book. It mainly covers architecture, best practices and real world tools. I made the assumption that the readers are faimilar with MIDP and PP allready. So, it may come handy to you in Octorber!

2) would you happen to know when it's going to be available here in the UK?

It will be available in the US in early October. I am not sure how long it takes to get UK. You might know?

1) is it possible to get the contents of your book? I mean, something like the contents page? Just so that I can convince my project supervisors to get one copy as well

Yes, I will post a detailed TOC soon on my web site. I will post on this forum soon (maybe tomorrow).

2) will you explain to my wife that two more books are coming from Amazon, which she won't even read them, but they'll take me away from here again, some more evenings?

Well, I can convince my wife that I need to spend 8 months *writing* the book. You can surely convince yours that you need to spend 2-3 days reading it.

[Fernando Sanz]

Originally posted by Michael Yuan:

It is around 450 pages. A nice thick book. It mainly covers architecture, best practices and real world tools. I made the assumption that the readers are faimilar with MIDP and PP allready. So, it may come handy to you in Octorber!

Nice, I'm really looking forward to getting a copy

Yes, I will post a detailed TOC soon on my web site. I will post on this forum soon (maybe tomorrow).

Thanks, I'll check later on.

Well, I can convince my wife that I need to spend 8 months *writing* the book. You can surely convince yours that you need to spend 2-3 days reading it.

x() 8 months, now I understand how you got that many pages in there
Thanks!
BTW, I'm downloading WebSphere Studio right now. It'll take almost seven hours, so I'll be using it by tomorrow morning

[Daryl Wilding-McBride]

Originally posted by Fernando Sanz:
What I don't like is its size; having so few pages and not talking about Personal Profile, I guess there isn't going to be that much for me

On the contrary, I would hope there's a still a lot there for you :-). It describes the differences between Personal Profile, PersonalJava, and J2SE. For the purposes of integrating with the enterprise via web services (which is covered using Personal Java in the flagship chapter), I'd be surprised if you found the API changes in PersonalProfile a huge difference.
[ August 24, 2003: Message edited by: Daryl Wilding-McBride ]

[Fernando Sanz]

Originally posted by Daryl Wilding-McBride:

On the contrary, I think there's a still a lot there for you :-). It describes the differences between Personal Profile, PersonalJava, and J2SE. For the purposes of integrating with the enterprise via web services (which is covered using Personal Java in the flagship chapter), I'd be surprised if you found it very different to developing in PersonalProfile for the PocketPC.

Well, you right. Since I couldn't find much about developing in Personal Profile, and Personal Java is used in so many PDAs at the moment, I decided to go for PP. Plus, as you say, it won't be very different when I do start with PP.
Now I've read most of the book, and I'm really happy with it.
Anyone starting with J2ME should first read this book, and then think about what to look for.