how can I make programs for Symbian

[Ashraf Alshahawy]

Hi all, I need to know what language to learn so I can make programs for Symbian operating system.
many thanks to you all

[Atheist]

You'd need to learn C/C++ to create Symbian applications. However most (all?) Symbian handsets can run applications written in Java aswell.

[Ashraf Alshahawy]

and what programs are used to compile programs written in C , C++ to Sis ,
and where I can start with right steps.

[Atheist]

Have you checked the developer pages at Symbian.com?
Also, if you're intending to create applications for series 60 devices, you should really have a look on www.s60.com.

[Ashraf Alshahawy]

many thanks Atheist for help , but one more question , does microsoft developed a program that create Symbian programs ?

[Atheist]

No, im 99% sure that Microsoft has never created any software specifically for writing Symbian applications.

[Ashraf Alshahawy]

but I heared that VB.Net 2008 create programs for Windows mobiles ....
so I thought microsoft created some tools that help symbian programers.

[Atheist]

Yeah you can create mobile applications for Windows mobile using Visual Studio, but theres nothing for Symbian on there..unfortunately.

[Ashraf Alshahawy]

Many thanks for help Atheist , and if you got any new news about this matter I hope to let me know , see you at another thread.By

[Atheist]

Sure thing

[petevick]

Take a look here at a product that claims to do it - not used it yet though

[Ashraf Alshahawy]

I truly appreciate your help , and I hope to meet you again with new thread.
and by the way ... if I need to learn a program or a programing language to establish a Data base that work with VB.net and web sites , what's your recommendation ??

[petevick]

SqlServer and SqlMobile are your best bet

[alex_read]

I can help clear a few things up here.

Language:
C++ is the programming language you need to learn.

IDEs:
The major development environments IDEs are CodeWarrior by Metrowerks (the largest one which serious Symbian software houses use, and is quite expensive), or eclipse which is a free development environment used mainly for java development but can be used for many other programming languages also.

A newer one is on the market called Carbide C++ also. This is a cut-down, specific version of eclipse built by Nokia if you are developing their phones.

Platforms and SDKs
Once you have the IDE, you need the libraries and emulators which come in the form of freely downloadable SDKs (software development kits) which can then be plugged into the IDEs. You can install multiple platform SDKs for Nokia and Sony Ericcsson phones within your IDE.

If you are targeting the Nokia side, then S60 and S80 are the major SDKs. You can get a list of the phones and which platform (and SDK) each phone supports, from either the Nokia development site direct or the Wikipedia page shown below:
http://developer.nokia.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S60_platform

For Sony Ericcsson phones, the SDK is called UIQ. Again there's a version 2 or 3 which the majority of their phones use. This Wikipedia page lists a few of thier phones and UIQ versions, or you can find this on their development site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UIQ

Microsoft approach
@Atheist: You were right only some and not all Symbian phones support Java. This has come about as Java allows for greater options for games developers and browser extension developers. Though most phones have this support now, it wasn't always there.

No, im 99% sure that Microsoft has never created any software specifically for writing Symbian applications.

You can make that 100% now and they never will. Microsoft have a Windows mobile platform and SDK out which is in direct competition to Symbian which is the reason for this. It uses XAML which they then thought was cool and put into WPF for Windows development. Development is strictly limited to Visual Studio 6 or .Net for Windows smartphone development, however as with the above, you can have numerous platforms phone emulators setup on the same computer).

Advice to go forward
As I contract to NSN now, I would(/should?) urge you to go with the Nokia one to start with, and can highly recommend the book "Symbian OS C++ for Mobile Phones" by Richard Harrison from Symbian ISBN 0-470-85611-4 which both myself and a good friend (who worked on the compiler for CodeWarrior) have both successfully used. Though aimed at OS development rather than games etc. specifically, it gives a beginner grounding in mobile and Symbian development, how it differs from what you're used to Windows development etc. and introduces applications which form a good basis if you then wanted to further go on to develop apps or games specifically rather than concentrating on the OS side of Symbian.

Hope this helps! & clears some of the above up too!