[PythonCE] Beginner Questions

Mon Mar 15 01:08:57 CET 2010

Hi, Remco.

Thanks for spotting the bad link - I had taken it down to update the SDL
version. Fixed it now.

The 'wrapper' is a simple set of C functions that go between the SDL library
and PythonCE's ctypes module, making it easy to call SDL functions from
Python scripts.

Python is probably a great choice as a first language, as it is so elegant.
A lot can be achieved in a few lines of code. It is worth noting that it was
originally a scripting language (not really for programming per se), but so
much is now possible with it that the lines become blurred. The online docs
for the Python language are pretty comprehensive, so I'm sure you will find
what you need.

Adam.

On 14 March 2010 21:55, Remco Krijgsman <remco at daystar.nl> wrote:

>  Hi Adam,
>
> I'm new to python(ce) as well. I checked out your link and found the link "Get
> the SDL 1.2.13 compiled for ARM processors here"<http://watersprite.awardspace.com/python/zip/SDL>to be dead. What exactly is this SDL? And what is the wrapper?
>
> I read your page and am also interested in getting devices like iPAQ's to
> control stuff since the old ones are cheap and low power so it seems logical
> to use them this way. I have a few 3600 and 3660's lying around somewhere.
> But first I must read a couple of books like Invent Your Own Games with
> Python to get a feel for the language and get some programming experience
> since it's my first programming language.
>
> regards,
>
> Remco
>
> Op 3/14/2010 8:21 PM, Adam Walley schreef:
>
> Welcome, Christopher!
>
> I hope you like what you have seen so far with Python and PythonCE. To
> answer your questions:
>
> - Yes, the setup executable is intended to work through Activesync, so next
> time you connect Activesync will do the install on your device for you.
>
> - Running the setup executable directly on your device will not work
> (because it is compiled to run on a PC and then transfer through Async). To
> install directly on your device you need a CAB package (I seem to have one
> for PythonCE 2.5 in my original install files so it is probably available
> out there somewhere).
>
> - PythonCE is definitely not only for smartphones, although that is a
> popular use for it. Any platform that runs Windows CE or Windows Mobile
> should (hopefully) let you run PythonCE without any problems. PythonCE will
> not run on Symbian or Android phones because PythonCE needs Microsoft's
> operating system - there may be other Python packages for these platforms
> (but that's not anything to do with this list).
>
> - Your objectives are not unreasonable, although depending on your exact
> requirements you may find "stand-alone" to be a sticking point; the target
> device will need to have PythonCE installed before any scripts will run on
> it, and there is no method for making a single executable file from your
> script (as you might do with a C compiler, for example).
>
> - Java and C experience will certainly be useful.
>
> - Documentation is mainly what you find on the wiki and sourceforge pages,
> as well as the main Python pages (most things are implemented the same way
> in PythonCE). Many things are covered in this list.
>
> I have some personal pages I put together, which may be of interest -
> including how to record from the built-in microphone and save out to a WAV
> file, as well as stylus input. There is also information about using the
> system's notifications to schedule a script to run at a certain time. Take a
> look here: http://watersprite.awardspace.com/python
>
> Happy Python-ing!
>
> Adam
>
> On 14 March 2010 00:36, Christopher Gray <chris at bayareadigital.us> wrote:
>
>> Hello:
>>
>> I am new to Python and even newer to PythonCE.  Here are a couple of
>> relatively elementary questions.
>>
>> I found what looks to be the newest download called pythoncesetup.exe.  It
>> ran on my PC under Windows XP and upon finishing says it will install
>> PythonCE the next time I attach my PDA.  Is this done somehow through
>> ActiveSync?
>>
>> I tried running pythoncesetup.exe on my PDA directly using a thumb drive.
>>  I got an error that the program was not a valid win32 application.  Is this
>> expected behavior?
>>
>> On the Python wikki, I found a lot of files that seem to be a smartphone
>> application.  Is PythonCE only for smartphones?  What about Symbian phones
>> or the Google phone and droids?
>>
>> Right now, I'm mostly learning Python using the ActiveState Python 2.6 on
>> a PC running XP and Ubuntu Linux.  My longer term objectives are to:
>>
>>     Create stand-alone applications on mobile phones that allow blind,
>> visually impaired and numeracy impaired people to gather data from medical
>> equipment and have it spoken from their cell phones or PDAs
>>
>>     Explore the use of PythonCE on a braille PDA running Windows CE 6.
>>
>> Do these seem like reasonable objectives?
>>
>> I have experience programming in Java and C, assisted in the
>> implementation of the FORTH language on a braille-based PDA, so am not a
>> complete stranger to this work.
>>
>> Any advice, particularly pointers to documentation, would really be
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Chris
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------
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>> Bay Area Digital
>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
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>
>
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