Database Develop

Wanting to develop my own software

Right...I’ve been using xda-dev for a while and decided its about time I contribute something back....especially as its my uni holidays and I have nothing to do my software idea is basically something to tell you prices of near by fuel outlets. Unless something like this already exists (a quick search of fuel prices on the xda-dev of fuel prices shows nothing)
Firstly I have no previous programming experience but we all have to start somewhere right?
Secondly what would I use to write the program in?
Thirdly how difficult would such a project be?
Sorry if questions I ask don’t make sense, I am a total noob.

I'm a noob aswell, but from what I can see to be able to do this your going to have to have access to all the necessary fuel prices, which are going to be updated how and from where?
Unless you could get access to an existing sql database, i cant see it being practical, well not for a noob anyway.
Anyone Correct me if i'm wrong.

Hmm i guess its best to learn programming before you attempt to write a software. Visual Studio is probably the best one to write in, and i believe the phone uses .NET. (Which can open up more languages and its pretty damn easy to program in)
Too lazy to write a program myself for PPC, but i recommend Visual C++
Video Tutorials -For programming in windows mobile
http://www.cplusplus.com/ -Good place to learn stuff
As for the difficulty, it depends.
Getting the gas info is the easy part, (ie some gas websites have easy URLS such as www.gasblahblah.com/index.aspx&?area=ZIPCODE
then parsing the page is trivial.
As for the functionality, try looking on sourceforge for some sample coding you can use, such as a skeleton for a today plugin etc.
Its not gunna be easy but goodluck!

good luck
As hirst89 said, it will be difficult. First of all, you need to build an up to date database (go check mysql or sqlite on google which are truly wonderful database softwares). Then, about the program itself, you have to learn how to develop in .NET with visual studio and .NET framework 2.0 (license fees are awfully expensive for the whole solution but you could try light versions don't know if they are trustable go check http://msdn.microsoft.com/fr-fr/express/aa975050.aspx). After that, you'll need a good server with an average bandwith (depends on the country you live in, for france go check www.ovh.com).
Good luck, you'll need it!!!!​
goorht

Yeh I think my post only touched on the difficulties of it. How would you go about collecting data from presumably the majority of fuel stations? Especially on a low budget, I presume from the fact that your a student.
And as for the programming, I wouldnt like to guess how much of an in depth knowledge you would need of .net for it to be basically functional.
Hope this all helps....but hope it doesnt squash your ideas and aspirations

Thank you for your quick responses...can you think of any more practical or easier to implement which I could start with?

well you could use c# which is use alot for software running on the windows mobile environment. there is Visual C# express version for free if you odnt want to shell out the money for visual studio.

zeezee said:
well you could use c# which is use alot for software running on the windows mobile environment. there is Visual C# express version for free if you odnt want to shell out the money for visual studio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think i'll start with express and if i enjoy it and get some interest in wat i'm doing then give something else a try.
I'm really worried going into this...i have no idea wat to expect
*just waiting for Visual basic to download and install*

Humz said:
i think i'll start with express and if i enjoy it and get some interest in wat i'm doing then give something else a try.
I'm really worried going into this...i have no idea wat to expect
*just waiting for Visual basic to download and install*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a brief look at creating my own software but my programming and coding knowledge doesn't stretch that far, I think I'll just stick with what im good at CSS, XHTML & Graphic Design

visual studio is easy, VS8 is free but it doesn't do much, if i'm not mistaken and i believe it was mentioned above that visual studio works in .NET but first you should try a couple easy things, try writing a small game like idk SKI FREE!!!! i haven't gotten around to it, but writing a game or other such is one of my projects for the summer while school is out. but that feul idea is fantastic, but windows live already tried it and it is extremely out of date. start small and work into the bigger stuff.
p.s. if you write ski free and get it to work on the phone let me know

Visual Studio Express doesn't allow you to develop mobile applications. Students from selected countries can grab a free copy of VS2008 Professional from here. Otherwise, the next best free solution would be the outdated eVC++ or eMbedded Visual Tools, which only support up to Pocket PC 2003 SDK. However, those apps will still work on WM5/WM6, etc. The main limitation is that the you don't have access to the APIs in the newer OS.

Humz said:
(a quick search of fuel prices on the xda-dev of fuel prices shows nothing)
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There are some programs that retrieve current and local gas prices. Windows Live Search is one.
I don't want to discourage you from writing your own, sounds like it would be good practice to start with. I wish I had the time to learn how to do it.

GWelker62 said:
There are some programs that retrieve current and local gas prices. Windows Live Search is one.
I don't want to discourage you from writing your own, sounds like it would be good practice to start with. I wish I had the time to learn how to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was gonna mention that.

This is a wery good book to start whit. Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic 2008.

App development

Arrrightt,
so i want to start cooking some apps and will be doing my own testing...unless there are daring enough people to try. Before i send it out i'll be sure to break it in on my own before i send out some defective thing
Anyways i have a few questions before i get started, is there a tutorial on here or somewhere on how to write apps or is there a way to re-write an existing app (for another os) to work on the android os
Cheers

There are a number of places you can start:
1) The Android SDK website has some simple tutorials http://developer.android.com/guide/index.html
2) Anddev.org http://www.anddev.org/ has tutorials of various nature.
3) In the dead tree world there are a couple of books I would recommend:
- "Hello, Android" by Ed Burnette: A good starters book but a little light on content in my opinion.
- "Professional Android Application Development" by Reto Meier: A more substantive book. If you like the Wrox programmer to programmer series of books (which I do) you will like this one. Still not as thorough as I would like but a good book.
- "The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development" by Mark L. Murphy: I have not gone too far into this book yet so can't comment on it much. I think this will be my favorite of the three over time. It is a better book if you like to read a chapter to learn a fundamental concept. My gut feeling is it will be a better reference book as well.
4) The android developers blog is a nice place to read for tips on optimizations and such: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/
Beyond that study the javadocs and samples that are out on the web.
As far as porting an existing application to android goes it depends a great deal on what language the original was written in and how UI dependent it is. If the original application was not written in Java I would not recommend trying to port it unless you are intimately familiar with the original project. If the original project was written in Java then port for non-ui elements is generally straight forwad. Keep in mind however that the UI will need to be rewritten from scratch and further the limited screen real estate and memory will need to be taken into account. Writing an app for an embedded environment (whether Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, or something else) has different priorities, first and foremost is optimizing for limited CPU. Where a traditional interface coupled app with loose control over object creation and destruction works fine on the desktop it does not do so well on an embedded platform.
That is all I have at the moment. Hopefully that will give you some avenues to explore and good luck!

yea i am reading through hello, android at the moment and i like it so far. ive never touched android before, and i know a little java, and the explanations seem pretty good to me.

eclipse doesnt run properly on windows vista 64 bit
im seriously crying i get errors trying to get it to work

insanemonkey said:
eclipse doesnt run properly on windows vista 64 bit
im seriously crying i get errors trying to get it to work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not a windows guy and but you might try this:
http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/development/readme_eclipse_3.4.1.html#I-General-64bitJava
really this is off topic for this thread though. (If you want help P.M. me or start a new thread with the error message and I can take a look.)

Web site creators?

Hey-
A friend of mine wants to build a website for his small business. He has a domain name registered and he has a host. He just needs to build the site. He asked me if I could help/knew of any good programs that help make the job easier.
Neither of us have much code writing experience, but we both have a lot of experience using computers at a higher level than the "norm".
He would prefer something he could run on his linux box, but would settle for something on Windows XP.
Any suggestions?

Hi, i would use: Microsoft Expressions 3
another good program is: Serif Webplus X2 / X4

wordpress is also an option it's easy for users to update themselves even if they are not
good at html or j-scripts and php

Thanks for the responses guys! We will take a look at those programs. I have heard good things about wordpress for us html deprived folk that have good overall skills. It looks like a good match to me(free, easy, good support community and powerful enough for what we are doing). Of course, we are going to take a look at the other suggestions, Expressions 3 is something I am familiar with, but we are not looking to spend any money if possible (not pros, just helping a friend). Not real familiar with Serif other than I know the name and I know it is a solid option.

If you go to
Students4Software you can get:
Microsoft Expressions Studio 3 for £20 / 50
all ligit

I'd look at e107.
It's a bit technical to setup, but there's a wiki and a IRC Channel, for help.
Requires, virtually no coding (unless you need to fix bugs), and offers a lot of features.
Dave

Well it all depends on the complexity of the website in question. Is it mostly just content or will you need database interactions involved? Will the site have a member base?
If it's just mostly content, any html editor (Visual Web Developer, Dreamweaver) should work. IF you are needing a more complex solution it's best to get a book and learn ASP.NET or PHP.. Cheaper then paying someone! =)

depends on what you want .. Wordpress is a great choice for blogs .. Drupal / Joomla if you are after a CMS.

Simon_WM said:
If you go to
Students4Software you can get:
Microsoft Expressions Studio 3 for £20 / 50
all ligit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not legit if your not a student, luckily im a student so can use that but if your not a student you don't have a right to use that site, and as a matter of fact u can get expressions studio free (if your a student) from the dreamspark project.

A Short Look at How Microsoft is empowering Students

As a computer science student, I know how much help free resources for making programs can be. If you look at the price tag for a normal person to buy a Microsoft product such as Visual Studio, you will see that you are paying >=$100 for it. However, if you're a student, Microsoft knows that money is tough for college students, so it is giving many of its products, such as visual studio or the latest version of Windows, away free to students. Microsoft is doing this through 2 main programs: Dreamspark and MSDNAA. If you can dream it, Microsoft has the tools to do it with its Dreamspark site. Want to get developing for the latest version of Windows or Windows Mobile? Dreamspark has fully-featured versions of Visual Studio available for download. Gaming on systems like the Xbox or Windows Mobile 7 more of your fancy? Well, Microsoft has XNA Gaming Studio available, along with a waiver for the $99 fee you normally have to pay to develop games for the Xbox 360. Do the tools you want to run recommend you run Windows 7 but you only have Windows XP and don't have the money to upgrade? Well, Microsoft will give you a free license key via MSDNAA as well as an iso file of the install cd. MSDNAA is the academic wing of MSDN giving you access to most (if not all) of its MSDN resources for free. I would like to mention that both Dreamspark and MSDNAA require you to have a valid university e-mail address before you can complete the signup process, so check with the computer science department (or whoever manages Microsoft relations) at your college or university. If you want a place to get help or just chill out on the net, the Microsoft Student Lounge has forums, fun stuff, reviews, and the latest specials on Microsoft products.
If you've ever used Dreamspark or MSDNAA (or even been to the Microsoft Student Lounge), sound off and leave a thought or 2 about it below.
Here are some links to help you get started:
Imagine Cup: http://bit.ly/fcPDqa
DreamSpark: http://bit.ly/ekmqiA

--bump for viewing--

Yea, computer science major here too. I need VS

I was called to Dreamspark event in our college (I am mechanical engineer). For a seminar on windows 7. It was a waste of time because these microsoft guys where busy promoting windows 7 rather than explain its features
waste of time and waste of money

[Q] WP8 C++ vs C#

Hi everyone!
Given the announcement of WP8, today, I noticed that there was not a whole lot of information of whether or not C# would receive a lot of support for developers.
I have started learning C# as my first programming language, but I am wondering if I should jump ship and learn C++ instead to write apps for W8 and WP8.
Should I? I know C++ has been popular for a while, but can anybody guess as whether MSFT is pushing developers to the C++ route and away from C#?
Thank You!

CodyNunes said:
Hi everyone!
Given the announcement of WP8, today, I noticed that there was not a whole lot of information of whether or not C# would receive a lot of support for developers.
I have started learning C# as my first programming language, but I am wondering if I should jump ship and learn C++ instead to write apps for W8 and WP8.
Should I? I know C++ has been popular for a while, but can anybody guess as whether MSFT is pushing developers to the C++ route and away from C#?
Thank You!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
C# is definetely not being pushed away. C++ requires a lot more work than C#. You should not stop learning C#, but maybe consider learning C++ after you learn C#.

I absolutely agree with the comment above. C++, however, can let you produce far better optimized apps at the cost of a longer coding time.
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Microsoft said during the Event that they encourage the use of XAML/C#, VB.Net for regular Applications. For Games they encourage People to go with C++ and DirectX. There are currently community projects aiming for kind of a follow up to the XNA framework allowing people to write Games for Windows 8 Metro using C# and DirectX which due to the shared APIs should enable the same for WP8 but I don't know how far along they currently are.
For highly resource intensive computations you might want to leverage the C++ performance benefits but overall C# is fast enough for most use cases and development is speedier and A LOT less prone to errors.

Thank you, everyone! If any more information comes up about the limitations of c# or c++, I would appreciate any ideas opinions or input!

JavaScript also joined the game.
I like C#. Performance doesn't sound like good excuse to abandon it for c++ as hardware is becoming faster all the time.
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eyal-f said:
JavaScript also joined the game.
I like C#. Performance doesn't sound like good excuse to abandon it for c++ as hardware is becoming faster all the time.
Sent from my GT-I9100T using XDA
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Click to collapse
Well, the discussion about the performance between C# and C++ is pretty old. Just bing it and you'll find tons of pages. In my experience you can get very fast algorithms in both languages when you plan your app right. I'd suggest C# to learn as it is "safer" to start with. You don't have to care about garbage collection and memory management for instance. Also, you can easily reuse code in other apps. If you invest time in learning C# you will get more performant apps than by learning only a bit of C# and a bit of C++. And you can even write good games in C#. You can really get pretty darn high performant apps in C# if you optimize them right.

ChrisKringel said:
You can really get pretty darn high performant apps in C# if you optimize them right.
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Click to collapse
You've read my mind. Personally, I would also not bother whit c++ when you don't necessarily need to.
And game devs should keep in mind that using xna (c#) is the only possible way to get their games also on the xbox (And hopefully xna will get an updated version for WP8 with custom shader support and all that stuff)

XNA seems to be in pretty much the same spot as Silverlight. Microsoft is still supporting it but there is no news at all on future development. It seems development of XNA was stopped. Currently people are trying to develop replacements.
Most Apps will wok just fine using C# or JavaScript. For some things you will need to use highly optimized Algorithms. Had a discussion once with a Dev who did realtime Audio analysis on several platforms using fast fourier transformations and after all efforts on the Forum to optimize the C# code the C++ version was still twice as fast. That is simply due to some of the code security features. When accessing an array in C# the language will always do an out of bounds check to perhaps raise an Exception while C++ simply reads whatever is at the pointer position even if it is in memory behind the array as long as the memory is allocated.
By not doing these checks alone it reduces computation and given the limited processing power sometimes this is necessary to get things working decently on a mobile device.
Still there also were several benchmarks were C# code was able to outperform the C++ implementation (especially object heavy code).
So if you absolutely must have the highest possible performance C++ is the way to go. It's similar if you want to port your code accross platforms as you can do C++ for Android and iOS. In all other cases C# would be preferable as as it was said before it is more productive and less error prone.

You can use unsafe code in c# as well

chabun said:
You can use unsafe code in c# as well
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Click to collapse
To my knowledge not on Windows Phone. It would get rejected from the Marketplace. This might change with WP8 but we don't know yet.
Unsafe code also complicates things a lot because as soon as you directly manipulate memory you have to take care of it like in C++ because the Garbage Collector is out of the picture.
Most often it would be the easiest route to develop the performance critical code using C++ and then use that library from C#. This at least should be supported by WP8 although I can't remember where it was said exactly.

chabun said:
You can use unsafe code in c# as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a lot better to simply use a C# UI to wrap C++ code. However, it's easier to just use C++ in that case
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