In order to particpate in thsi class and learn the basics of programing for PalmOS you need to arrange for a C compiler and a Palm simulator. You are also encouraged to purchase the actual PDA. However, this last purchase is not mandatory at least for now. Later on some projests will deal with with serial port communication. In case you purchased a PDA with USB link please consider purchasing of an extra serial port link or using a laptop with an infrared port that can be used as a serial port. You will also need the textbook.
You may already have one or more C or C++ compilers that you used in other classes before. Those compilers produced code that you run on your computer. This time you will need to use another C compiler that will run on your machine but produce code for your PDA instead for your machine. Such compilers are called cross-compilers. I.e. They work on one operating system but produce the binary code for a different OS or even for a different microprocessor.
Your PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) will have a Motorola Dragonball 32 processor that runs on 33MHz and an OS that is called PalmOS. If you do not have a PalmOS compatible PDA you have to use its emulator. Emulator is a program that analyzes the binary code prepared for a particular microprocessor and/or operating system and then pretends that the code is run. This process may be much slower that real code running on a real microprocessor. Because of that some programs that require careful timing would not necessarily work well, or even may not work at all. However, most of our programs will work. The free emulator will even have a simulator of a network card and is capable of channeling the PDA serial port to the real serial port of your computer.
You will need a good book on programming for PalmOS. The textbook that was selected is a reasonable purchase. This course is being developped at the sime time as it is taught for the first time. Therefore, the examples may not be complete and may not cover all important material. Certainly you can try to read lengthy and very detailed electronic documentation from PalmOS manufacturer. Eventually that would be the source of information not covered with enough details anyway.