Symbian OS: Essentials

Language :	C++
Level :	Introductory
Upcoming Dates & Locations : (next six months)	21/05/2008 (3 days) - Bangalore, India : £1200 29/05/2008 (3 days) - London, United Kingdom : £1200 30/05/2008 (3 days) - London, United Kingdom : £1200 10/07/2008 (3 days) - Bangalore, India : £1200 18/07/2008 (3 days) - London, United Kingdom : £1200 20/08/2008 (3 days) - Bangalore, India : £1200 17/10/2008 (3 days) - Bangalore, India : £1200

This is a “hands on” course aimed at developers new to C++ programming for the Symbian OS. It covers the following areas: development tools, application development, E32 User Library, resource management, descriptors, arrays, file server, stream store, active objects and client server architecture.

The Essentials course explores the essential programming techniques required by all Symbian OS developers and acts as a foundation course to the more specialised Application UI Development course and Application Engine and System Programming course. Details of these courses are available upon request.

Objective

For participants to gain a wide understanding of Symbian OS and practical experience of essential Symbian OS programming issues.

Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:

Develop simple programs for emulated environments and target devices

Use Symbian OS development tools competently
Debug and test Symbian OS code
Understand the functionality of the fundamental components of the OS
Use the Symbian OS memory management model
Use descriptors, arrays and stream stores
Implement an active object framework in simple applications and understand its relationship to the Symbian OS client server architecture

Pre-requisites

The course is designed for new Symbian OS developers who have a reasonable understanding of OOA/OOP and C++ in particular. While the essential basics of the Carbide.c++ integrated development environment is covered on the course, previous familiarity is beneficial.

Style

The course consists of approximately 50% practical work and 50% lectures.

Course Content

1. Introduction to Symbian OS
Key features
Key platform components and their organisation
Application structure: Engines and UIs
Overview of Symbian OS Development – DevKits, CustKits and SDKs: what they’re used for.

2. Symbian OS Development Tools
DevKit, CustKit, SDK installation, usage and documentation
Basic Carbide.c++ commands
Symbian build tools
Unique Identifiers
Differences between target and emulated platforms

3. Application Development
Building programs: GUI vs. console apps
Using simple programs as templates
Debugging and testing techniques
Special Symbian OS coding conventions

4. System Structure
Architecture and implications
Kernel mode v user mode operation
Types of function call (user, executive and server requests)

5. Resource Management
Overview of memory leaks
Detecting memory leaks using the memory leak and alloc failure tools
Two phase construction pattern
Exception handling using TRAPD
Using the cleanup stack for resource management

6. Descriptors
Motivation for Descriptors (compared with C Strings)
Descriptor Classes and their key features

7. Arrays
Dynamic array overview
Use of Segmented vs. flat arrays
Arrays for fixed/variable sized elements

8. Active Objects
Why AOs
Life cycle of AOs
CActive and CActiveScheduler classes
Implementing simple AOs

9. Using Servers
Client Server Architecture overview
Sessions and sub-sessions
Associated cleanup issues

10. File Server and Stream Store
Using file server sessions
Basic direct stream store functionality
Overview of different stream stores

Further Information

If you require further information about this training course, please contact us via the details below:

Kay Ferris
Training Business Manager
Symbian Ltd
2 - 6 Boundary Row
London
SE1 8HP
UK
+44 20 7154 1846
kay.ferris@symbian.com