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by Russell Beattie.
Original Post: Nokia to release Perl for Series 60!
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We'll have to wait and see for what the final results are, but as I've bitched about before (and was linked to in the article) there's this massive gulf between the lightweight and hobbled J2ME programming API and the low-level, amazingly steep learning curve of the Symbian C++ APIs. I suggested that Symbian (or Nokia) just go and buy AppForge outright to get a hold of some scripting capabilities, but Perl is definitely a good second.
Now, some thoughts. I don't actually know Perl. It's compilable line noise to me and farthest from my mind. However, it's popular, open and powerful, so I'll just have to go grab some O'Reilly books and take the time to grok it once the libraries come available from Nokia, no biggie. I wonder if it'll have any widget libraries? Which version of Perl it'll support? And whether Nokia will just schluff it off to the Open Source community like Symbian did with OPL, or whether they'll release it with decent support as a new programming avenue? The devil will definitey be in the details.
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it... Perl, OPL and VB are all well and good, but I'd much rather be living in Java, no? An installable version of the Personal Profile would be key and alleviate many of the problems with MIDP nuttiness and help compete fully against .Net Compact... that would really be a solution for me.
But hey, until that happens (and it's chilly in hell) Perl is definitely a cool option. I can't wait to see it...
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