Aimed at opposite ends of the skills market, both books continue to promote Symbian as Open Platform for Software Development.
While the second title is destined to turn up on the shelves of the majority of professional Symbian programmers, it’s the former title that could be of more strategic value. Mobile Python – Rapid Prototyping of Applications on the Mobile Platform could well bring in a whole new group of programmers and developers, from hobbyists to experienced Python users looking to get involved in the handheld space.
A rapid development languge, accessible to all, is a historical route that Psion exploited with their OPL language in the late nineties. But it failed to gain popular support from the licensees and partners of Symbian to allow it to mature. Python has a much larger base of users, and it will be interesting to see just how many come on board to Symbian devices over the next few weeks and months.
Ewan Spence