Handheld Programming Languages and Environments

Mobile commerce is defined as the exchange or buying and selling of commodities, services, or information on the Internet through the use of mobile, handheld devices such as smart cellular phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants). It is widely acknowledged that mobile commerce is a field of enormous potential. However, it is also commonly admitted that the development in this field is constrained. There are considerable barriers waiting to be overcome. One of the barriers is most software engineers are not familiar with the design and development of mobile applications (Kiely, 2001). This chapter gives a study of handheld computing and programming to help software engineers better understanding this subject. Handheld computing is to use handheld devices to perform wireless, mobile, handheld operations such as personal data management and making phone calls. They can be achieved by using server or client- side handheld computing and programming: • Server-side handheld computing and programming: Server-side handheld computing is to use handheld devices to perform wireless, mobile, handheld operations, which require the supports of server-side computing. The most common applications of server-side handheld programming are the mobile Web contents. • Client-side handheld computing and programming: Client-side handheld computing is to use handheld devices to perform handheld operations, which do not need the supports of server-side computing. Most client-side handheld programming languages are a version of either C/C++ or Java. Examples of the application development of Java ME, a version of Java, and Palm OS, using a version of C, will be given.