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Programming Wireless Devices with the Java(TM)2 Platform, Micro Edition (2nd Edition) Review by Joseph
Review of "Programming Wireless Devices with the J2ME"
So I have been programming with J2ME and DOJA for a while on various Japanese Cellphones. The Japanese cellphones that do support the full MIDP/CLDC combination do not yet support the MIDP 2.0 that this book is covering, but I thought it would be a good idea to check out what I might be able to use when they do, and also try and clear up my own confusion about what precisely the CLDC and MIDP actually are.
Having read the book I think I have a better idea of the distinction between CLDC and MIDP, but still don't feel wonderfully sure. The impression I come away with is that the CLDC is about ensuring a basic level of functionality and the MIDP describes a wider range of functionality such as GUIs and Advanced communications features. This would make sense then if the Japanese Docomo Java framework was CLDC and AU/Vodaphone framework was both CLDC and MIDP.
The book itself was reasonably informative as to the new MIDP 2.0 features, and I was interested to see some good code samples for things like the MIDP Game and Multimedia API - however the code samples don't yet appear available for download. I hope they'll be up soon so I can check them out.
Overall I found the book a little difficult to read - it is kind of more of a reference book - I would imagine myself dipping into it to get things I need, rather than reading through it to get an understanding of J2ME. In some ways the book would almost be better as a more condensed reference work. There are a number of good wireless programming tips such as making all communications run in a separate thread to improve user experience, but these are a little thin on the ground and the book is dominated by working through each detail of each of the APIs. I think is an important book to have if you are working against the MIDP2.0 specification, but I don't think I 'd recommend it to a beginner trying to learn J2ME.
I would imagine that successive iterations of this book will lead to major improvements, such as breaking the book into a Reference work, and a J2ME programming tips guide. I think another couple of years of explosive growth in J2ME wireless devices and programmers will make the latter work possible.