DigiWorks Web Blog

The ongoing distribution of JavaME-capable mobile phones makes it no longer necessary for developers to become smartphone specialists with a profound knowledge in hardware and OS. Mobile software development should be simple to learn and quick results are the main goal.

A severe aspect when building a first prototype based on an initial, promising idea is to use the right tools. The production setup should be done rapidly. The workflows must be easy to learn and to handle. All that is what Python is well-known for and that makes it an attractive opportunity for testing user interfaces, impulsive ideas or rapid prototyping on smartphones in general.

Building stand-alone applications which can be installed on a device similar to native applications, is as well possible. And to underline the strong relation to the native programming language, C++ code snippets can be embedded within conventional modules.

In many existent an approach for developing Python applications for the S60 platform is demonstrated. Of course rapid prototyping is one of many methods to produce and deploy scripts on the target and the community is still working on even more effective instruments to make this process more comfortable for the developer. Compared to the JavaME and Symbian platforms, there is still no IDE available, which combines coding and deployment. Nevertheless, the available tools present a wide range of opportunities to produce applicable software which is, from a functional point of view, comparable to other mobile platforms. Nokia’s Python port is restricted to S60 2nd and 3rd Edition phones, which is only a fractional amount compared to the phone support of JavaME.

The mentioned aspects result in a disadvantage, due to the fact that Python is an interpreted language- the performance is much poorer. At Rapid Prototyping Website we demonstrate the results of performance measurements about PyS60 and JavaME. Maybe Python is also not the top language for implementing a commercial application. The plain text of the application’s code is right there for everyone to access. As you can see from Rapid Prototyping Website, even when packaging a Python script in stand-alone form using rapid prototyping, the code is accessible in script of the interpreter at runtime. However, many mobile platform developers use PyS60 to prototype products before producing commercial software, especially when trying to access features on the phone like camera and networking or performing GUI experiments.

The power of rapid prototyping is that it allows very easy access to these elements in a few lines of code. It is a straightforward way of developing a proof of concept on which one can quickly try ideas (you may view examples at materialise.com). So Python is best suited to custom programs, for specific interests or generating user interfaces, if needed in a short span of time for e.g. customer presentations. Python for S60 is supposed to be an upcoming competitor for native applications and if not used for high-performance applications it is definitely more than just a tool for rapid prototyping.

Technology mobile platforms, prototyping, rapid prototyping, rapid prototyping of mobile phones, Technology

Abstract Mobile application production has become more and more important during the last couple of years since the number of devices increases quickly and the capabilities of phones enable a new variety of services. This trend requires new opportunities for creating innovative software in an efficient and comfortable manner. With Python for S60 (PyS60), Nokia brought the Python programming language to S60 phones, which offers new ways of mobile application development and rapid prototyping. This article gives an introduction to PyS60, deals with the development process of applications and explains differences to common approaches when using the native Symbian C++ or JavaME platform.

The number of smartphones on the market has been increasing continually over the last couple of years, due to the changing way that people connect, interact and work. There is a need in small mobile devices and the ability to provide anytime, anywhere access to information in a simple and effective way. According to iSuppli1 analysts, there have been 2.7 billion cellular subscribers globally in 2009 and forecasts about 3 billion subscribers by end of 2010. Perhaps this market is growing faster than every other technologic sector. This increasing amount of devices associates the need of new services and applications along with platforms on which they are developed and deployed. As you can see at Rapid Prototyping Website, nowadays the mobile phone has become a multimedia all-rounder, which enables the user to make photos and videos, enter the world-wide web or using it as a multimedia player.

Since the beginning of this trend, far-sighted software developers began to write applications for mobile platforms, to benefit from an upcoming industry of rapid prototyping. The drawbacks of the huge amount of possibilities offered by the mobile platforms are recognized. Limited hardware-capabilities, low CPU speed and small displays require clever software concepts and remarkable development skills, to make an application be efficient or suitable. At Rapid Prototyping Website we may show you how different software platforms are established among the variety of phone manufacturers. Some build on their personal proprietary operating system whereas others employ published platforms, which enable third party developers to use native APIs to access phone-specific capabilities for their applications. Among these, Symbian OS, developed by the Symbian Ltd.2, turned out to be one of the key players on the market. But this great mobile platform comes along with the drawbacks of handling high-performance idioms of the C++ programming language, which was used to write the operating system itself.

The solution was Python for S60 (PyS60), an interpreted script language port for Symbian OS mobile phones. As you may see at www.materialise.com, Python is known for its simple concepts and slim language specification of around 100 pages. But not only beginners should take advantage from this opportunity of rapid prototyping. The easy approach could make fast and conceptual development possible for even the experienced ones.

Technology mobile platforms, prototyping, rapid prototyping, rapid prototyping of mobile phones, Technology