A Brief Introduction to WebOS Application Development
I am still very much a noob in WebOS development but I can tell you it’s probably much easier than learning C++ or some other complex programming language.
With some help from experienced programmers, I’ve got PreMedi, the WebOS medical calculator, now up to v 0.61 with 6 modules. What I sorely lack is time otherwise it is not difficult to plug in more modules though eventually I don’t think I can match MedCalc – I would like at least the most commonly used ones in the final product.
The purpose of this post is to share with you a nice video on WebOS Application Development. I hope this will encourage more physician WebOS coders and developers:
The WebOS Homebrew scene is really exploding. While the official Palm Catalog stands at 32, I believe the Homebrew apps now exceed a hundred and the increase I suspect will be exponential.
PreCentral has some interesting development in store for the Homebrew scene so stay tuned!.
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About the author, Alan: Alan Teh is a Malaysian Physician who specialises in Hematology-Oncology & Stem cell Transplantation. He has been using Palm PDAs since 1997 and is absolutely reliant on them. His current PDA is a Palm Pre and is a strong advocate of the webOS platform, Palm's latest operating system. Caught the blogging bug in 2004 and has been addicted ever since… |
Congratulations on getting PreMedi up and running. It definitely seems like WebOS is a lot easier to get started with than Palm OS or iPhone OS. Both of the latter have a lot more technical baggage related to the SDK that must be dealt with before you can even think about your specific app.
The main problem that us full-time doc/part-time programmers will always run into is, of course, time. Once these apps are developed, they require regular ongoing attention. Even if you don’t change the basic functionality of the tool, the constant OS upgrades need to be dealt with. No matter how obscure your app is, there always seems to be someone out there who uses it all the time and wants to know when you are going to update your app. That’s why I think it’s just about impossible to straddle platforms i.e. develop for more than one OS as a hobby or part time vocation.
The good news is that there really is no rush. It looks like WebOS is here to stay and your app can only get better and more comprehensive. Software development in this style happens in brief bursts of accomplishment followed by long periods of stagnation.
Thank for very much for featuring my presentation. I am thinking about making an entire series on the WebOS; mainly developer oriented. Your PreMedi app is really nice. It has lots of potential. I also have an app called Jobr. You can view it at my website at http://www.webfusion5.com. Thanks, again!
Thanks for the comments and kind words guys.
Jason I really hope you can come out with more instructional and education videos on WebOS!
While I found the video to be informative, it was not at all what I expected from the title. It seemed more like “A brief introduction to the tools and capabilities of WebOS” because while it suggested objects available in WebOS to use in building an app, it didn’t really show anything about actually building an app, just offered a nice demo of an existing app. I confess I skipped around a bit after a few minutes, LOOKING for an example of actual development or loading a new app onto the emulator or a physical device, but it seemed like the actual development work was glossed over.