Nokia Releases Qt SDK For Mobile Development 76
An anonymous reader writes "Nokia has released its unified Qt-based SDK for cross-platform development for Symbian and MeeGo (plus Maemo) devices. The blurb reads: 'Today sees the release of the Nokia Qt SDK, a single easy-to-use software development kit (SDK) for Symbian and Meego application development. Developers can now develop, test, and deploy native applications for Nokia smartphones and mobile computers. The beta version of the SDK is available for download from today, ready for developers to kick off development for new devices, including the just-announced Nokia N8.'"
Well, they can ship it, no interns to reject (Score:5, Insightful)
If Google is serious about Go language, they can release its SDK for Symbian as soon as tomorrow and I bet its runtime will even be "featured" on Nokia's "Ovi" (App) store.
We aren't speaking about Apple here, everything is open and free. Nokia currently features "Locago", a J2ME competitor to their own, multi billion maps application.
For example, MS already released an alpha (or beta) of Silverlight for S60 along with SDK. Adobe Flash 10 is next to come.
Re:Alternatives to C++ (Score:3, Insightful)
I would love to be able to build Symbian apps in Google's Go, it is an ideal language for secure, fast, lightweight programs for mobile apps.
Why is go so much better? As far as I can tell it is no lighter than C++ (it has garbage collection which implies some non-trivial runtime) and it lacks parameterized types. It does have multi-programming (as does C++0x, and the variants of C++ and C on many common compilers via openmp), and fast compiles.
But, I don't see any particular advantage.
Why the flaming? (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a E/1 too and I will just ask one question. First of all, you know E71 has upgrade, E72 with basically twice the processing power and free RAM with extras like compass... It is basically iPhone 3GS compared to 3G. So, our devices are previous generation.
Did you even try Qt demos, very early alpha ones from qt.nokia.com blogs? Or, did you use your devices unique advantages like absurdly long battery life, multi tasking, free navigation, open platform?
Yes, any company these days can invent cold fusion and nobody will be impressed and the will line up for iPad instead but it doesn't change how huge change this represents in mobile space and even open source.
Re:Alternatives to C++ (Score:3, Insightful)
panic/recover is not "better" than exceptions. It only really allows to trace and log serious errors -- most likely programming or system errors --, to provide debug data, with no automated cleanup and operation cancellation being done.
An exception-based programming style however, allows to enforce invariants, model atomic constructs, and guarantee deterministic resource management.
Re:Useless (Score:5, Insightful)
That's because you're late on the bandwagon. Symbian has been around for a very long time, and there are plenty of people who know how to develop for it - all of those will be interested in this. Furthermore, given how popular Qt already is for desktop development, that's a very large crowd that can use their existing skills directly.
That, and also Qt is much more sane than either Android or iPhone APIs. And, of course, C++ - a language that'll let you not only shoot yourself in the foot (like C), but also rape yourself with a chainsaw - but also a language which is so much more powerful than everything else out there...
Re:Alternatives to C++ (Score:4, Insightful)
A witty quote proves nothing. There is not a single argument in that list. Without exception, every C++ detractor that I have personally met dislikes C++ for a misture of reasons including FUD from the internet, fundamentally misunderstanding basic features and in some cases outdated knowledge from maybe 2002.
With the exception of the vexing parse, I suspect that fixing any things you think are broken in C++ would make it slower and/or less expressive.
So, what do you think is broken and how would you fix it.
Re:Useless (Score:3, Insightful)
"Mindshare" == "What I think is the best platform, inside my head".
Re:Useless (Score:3, Insightful)
That's a fscking big "just".
Re:Alternatives to C++ (Score:3, Insightful)
I wish Nokia provided some better alternatives to C++ for development on Symbian.
That is exactly what they just did! The way Qt extends C++ gives you a fast and powerful development environment, surpassing plain C++ big time.