Build without an SDK, test without a device

ltomuta | 08 November, 2009 17:50

How many SDKs do I need? Which SDK is best for me?

For a newcomer to the Symbian development world those are among the first questions asked. There are many S60 SDKs on offer, some with feature packs and plugins, some with compiler specific binaries and on top of that many plug-ins. Quite a lot to handle and figure out and nobody likes having all possible SDKs installed.

So what will happen now that Qt is added to the picture? I can design my app using Qt for Windows (or Linux, or Mac) and, according to the "code once, compile anywhere" promise I should be able now to compile this application for Symbian and Maemo devices, with minimal changes. But that means that now I need to install at least one Symbian SDK for building, or a Maemo one, and I should have at least one smartphone for testing. Or do I?

Yes, probably one will have an SDK installed and use its emulator for testing some really complicated solutions, with Symbian components part of the design. And yes, nothing can really replace hand-on-testing. But for simple use cases and for getting started trials one possible solution could be building and testing in the cloud. What you need is an IDE plugin, web hosted SDK and build tools and Forum Nokia's Remote Device Access solution, all mixed together in a rather simple build, deploy and test solution.

Here's a live demo (boring parts speeded-up a bit) of such a solution:

 


 

So, what do you think? Do you like the idea? Would you use it for your projects?

 

S60 , Maemo , SDK , Qt for Symbian | Next | Previous | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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My concerns would be security of code and scalability

Sorcery-ltd | 10/11/2009, 12:51

Obviously, the idea of not having to bother with SDKs is appealing. However, remote compilation involves sending your code elsewhere. Who runs the infrastucture? How do you guarantee that is secure?

Next, if there was any kind of central service - compiling code takes a lot of CPU. How gigantic a server farm would you need to serve all of the Qt developers wanting to target mobile devices?

If there are sensible solutions to both of those issues then why not? Then again, maybe issue one will limit users sufficiently that issue two is not a problem?

Remote compiler

savaj | 11/11/2009, 14:45

savaj

Gr8 man. i was looking for same thing. Lets hope this service available soon. :)

Re: My concerns would be security of code and scalability

ltomuta | 11/11/2009, 14:49

ltomuta

Thanks Mark for your comment. Security and scalability are certainly two potential blocking points.

The way we see it, there are certain categories which have no IPR concerns regarding their code: students writing their first code examples without having to install SDKs over SDKs and open source developers, which are working with already public code.

There are however developers which will obviously not be at ease with submitting their code to some server. We can address this, and solve the scalability issue at the same time, by open-sourcing the entire solution so that remote compiler farms can be setup anywhere they are needed, e.g. closed environments for use within an university or within a company.

And performance?

Sorcery-ltd | 11/11/2009, 16:46

I like it. I can imagine a small company, and particularly a start up could save a lot of time and money by having the SDKs centralised, with high spec build servers and relatively low spec developer laptops. The only remaining question is the performance overhead - for a small program is it worth sending it to be remotely compiled and getting it back again? Probably, particularly if you don't have to send large resources. An optional caching architecture to prevent too much sending back and forth across multiple build cycles might be good too!

cross platform

bitflung | 12/11/2009, 18:23

for me, the best thing about this is that i could finally develop from my mac. sure sure there are unofficial and somewhat functional ways to develop on the mac already - but i've never gotten it to work.

hell, i cant compile for any target but the emulator on windows right now either!

offloading all the target specific compilation issues to another box is perfect for me. if they add hosting for open-source projects and perhaps grease the wheels a bit for submitting open-source apps to the ovi store, i'd be even more excited.

this could be just the thing to kick OSS for symbian in the butt. lazy "i program for the fun of it" devs like myself get frustrated and give up on the shoddy dev tools on offer to date. windows only? meh, i'll live with it. doesn't even work right on windows when it's windows only? screw it i give up.

this may be just the thing to enable me to finish my projects and get the code out there for others to abuse.

Video not visible

mayankkedia | 17/11/2009, 07:08

Hi,

I am unable to view the video/demo on Firefox.

Re: Video not visible

ltomuta | 02/01/2010, 15:29

ltomuta

Hi mayankkedia,

It's just a YouTube video, it should work. Or see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdgAFwzjsE8

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