Scripting language for Symbian Systems

Recently, the scripting language under Symbian system has many potential usability. But so far, only one scripting language is available-at least when you want to provide scripts for your application.

It is reported that as early as January, Nokia's vice-president, Lee Epting, had proposed to use the Perl language on the Nokia S60 series models. The reason for this is that other alternative languages, such as C + + and Java, are too powerful for simple form based applications that are exhausting business managers, not developers. As a result, Nokia has slightly adjusted its policy and suggested using Python as its scripting language.

Aside from the advantages of Perl and Python, these reports are intended to imply that developers are intent on acquiring scripts on the S60 series of handsets, and developers are unable to use scripts even on UIQ applications. This hint is not entirely true, since March 2003, Simkin has become the Open scripting language of Symbian system.

Simkin began in 1995. Simon Whiteside was involved in the development of an adventure game made by the BBC. Simon was invited to participate in making the game code. "When I started this project, it became clear that when the game designers were very clear about what they were trying to achieve, they did not elaborate on the details of the game," he said. As the design progresses, I am faced with the dilemma of rewriting the game: written in C, running on Windows 3.0. At this point, I realized that it would be quite a waste of time, so it was imperative to find other solutions. At first Simon's scheme allowed the configuration of file control games, but over time the needs of the expression evaluation program were determined, and then the loop was added. To make the game more controllable and mobile, the scripting language produces ... "

Since Simon's game project, he has applied the technology to a hot-selling music symbol application called Sibelius. SIBELIUSDE developers want to add a macro language to provide Sibelius with a macro that is similar to a word processor. Simon pioneered the use of Simkin to provide plug-ins for Sibelius.

When Simon left Sibelius in 1997, he decided to make Simkin a product and then spent six months registering the franchise for the product. During that time, he sold some concessions, but he finally realized that their core interests were in the development of applications. So in 1999, he passed Sorceforge to issue certificates. "Simkin has made a profit as an open resource product," Simon said. I received a lot of feedback and understood some of the flaws in the program, so I'm happy to say that as an open resource, it's a good way for Simkin. ”

Starting with Simon's Simkin as a public resource, he developed the Java and XML versions and pilot J2ME versions ...

The Symbian version began as early as 2002 for the Hewlett-Packard Survey. Hewlett-Packard European Research Laboratory is working with Bristol University to operate a computer project in Bristol. This project involves a variety of applications that can be worn with computer equipment, from game to guide. One application in the project is to get feedback from wireless access points to provide a guide to artwork in the city art galleries. As part of the project, HP wants to build an interactive game that runs on HP iPAQ. To provide a model simple architecture for these games, HP has contacted Simon to try to transplant Simkin to iPAQ and to describe the elements of the game using the XML architecture features provided by Simkin.

Simon said: "We have completed the tasks that HP has delivered, and we are going to extend the Simkin project to mobile phones." At the time, HP defined Symbian handsets as emerging technologies in the mobile development market, and they needed me to do a transplant project for them. However, Simon points out that while the transplant project was released through SourceForge, while it attracted a significant amount of interest from Symbian developers, HP did not continue its development of Symbian handsets in the wearable devices market.

As a Symbian transplant, Simon took into account the need to maintain compatibility between different versions of Simkin. "To ensure compatibility with different versions of Simkin, there are two major challenges to be faced," Simon said. The first is that C + + does not support C + + exception handling on Symbian systems, and the second is that you cannot use the Symbian delegation process in the C + + compiler. I tried to solve most of the problems with C + + macros, partly because I started porting for HP based on Windows CE, which also lacked the ability to handle exceptions; The most important reason is that although simkin is very effective, there are still places in the program that require specialized Symbian code. ”

Simkin is not a language that can create programs from scratch. As Simon describes, "Simkin is a language that defines the behavior of a program, which I call an embedded scripting language." "So using Simkin in a program allows a script to determine the relevant behavior of the program or to help the user control program, but its true functionality still manifests itself in the execution of the master program." Simon thinks Simkin is very useful for game development because performance is a key factor in game development, although the internal functions of the game are written in C or C + +, but they can be controlled by lightweight Simkin. "If you use a traditional scripting language, it's easy to develop, but you can't use them in a project like this," Simon says. ”

Another potential use of Simkin text adventure game Simkin, which runs on Nokia6600, is that when Simkin creates application output and functions that are controlled with XML files, it can create configurable user interfaces for applications. Simon created a simple calculator program using the technology, and Simon won a notable focus on his presentation at last year's Symiban annual meeting Exposium.

Configurable calculator programs UIQ and S60 series models that run on the Sony Ericsson P900 can be available on the Simkin Web site for both configurable calculators and simple text adventure games.

Simkin also has an easy to overlook advantage, that is, its help with testing. "If developers have introduced Simkin to program development since the start of development, Simkin will provide testers with a handy way to perform a script decay test without using a stand-alone test tool," said Simon. ”

The Simkin for Symbian will depend heavily on the open source community in the future, although Simon spends most of his time on completing the scheduled network, desktop and wireless development projects. But "if there are some funds that support his development," he still concentrates his main interest on Simkin's optimization of Symbian transplants.

Potentially, Simkin can provide more for mobile developers and "business managers" than traditional scripting languages. When the intrinsic functionality of a computer resource is limited in the use of C + + or Java, an ingenious solution is to use a lightweight language like Simkin. It can achieve an ideal balance between performance and flexibility.