This paper looks at the process of developing an application for a device running a Palm operating system; specifically, any device running OS 3.x or newer. The main focus is broken into two separate ideas: understanding the process flow and minimum requirements of any Palm application and the development of a program to receive and display data gathered from a Garmin GPS 25 LVC receiver unit. All of the programs, processes, and ideas contained herein are based on the use of CodeWarrior, a developer's environment for the PC available as freeware from Metrowerks Corporation.
             As with any programming environment, the programmer must first learn the basics of how the computer functions. Most programmers are familiar with the PC environment and standard flow of an application. When programming in any language on a PC, the developer must create and include any functions or additional files that are necessary for use with the application being created. However, the Palm OS is slightly different, and rightfully so considering the limited storage capacity available on most handhelds. When a Palm application is being developed, many of the functions that are going to be needed for performing the most common tasks on the device are already written. These functions are available in function libraries directly from Palm by joining their developer's community. At this site, a variety of developer's tools are available including function libraries, software development kits (SDK), emulators, sample code, tips, frequently asked questions, etc. By providing these functions to the developer, it helps to not only ensure compatibility with all of Palm's devices, but also speeds the development process.
             To begin developing an application, the programmer must first choose a suitable programming language and a compatible compiler/debugger. Metrowerks has an easy to use developing environment called CodeWarrior. CodeWarrio...