Symbian OS Explained: Effective C++ Programming for Smartphones

This book explains the key features of Symbian OS and will help you to write effective C++ code. It focuses on aspects of good C++ style that apply particularly to Symbian OS.

21 items are used to target particular aspects of the operating system and provide a simple and straightforward exploration of coding fundamentals. Using example code and descriptions of best practice to deconstruct Symbian OS, the items guide you to what you should and should not do (and why), pointing out commonly-made mistakes along the way.

Technologies covered include:

• client-server architecture
• descriptors and dynamic containers
• active objects, threads and processes
• leaves, cleanup stack and 2-phase construction
• thin templates, good API design, memory optimization, debug and test macros
• the ECOM plug-in framework

Symbian OS Explained can be read cover-to-cover or dipped into as a reference that will improve your code style when programming with Symbian OS.

Jo Stichbury was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where she held the Stothert Bye-Fellowship. She has an MA in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) and a PhD in the chemistry of organometallic Molybdenum complexes. After a brief spell in postdoctoral research at Imperial College, she joined Psion Software in 1997, when Symbian OS was still known fondly as EPOC32. She has worked with the operating system ever since, within the Vase, Connectivity and Security teams of Symbian, and also for Advansys, Sony Ericsson and Nokia.

As the contents of this book will reveal, Jo has a somewhat unhealthy interest in the Clangers and Greek mythology. She currently lives in Vancouver with her partner and two cats.