Python for S60 has been in a state of flux for oh so long, with multiple forks and levels, but it seems we can put all that behind us now with the formal release of the big shiny v2.0 - the dev kit was released today. You may have noted that we reported on PyS60 being made available via Sw update on some 3rd Edition FP2 devices (and above) a month ago? This new kit represents all the other bits developers (and users) might need to write in Python. The announcement, quoted below, also mentions that the source code is being donated to the Symbian Foundation.
Read on in the full article.
Hmmm...this has been up for more than a day and yet no comments. I don't think almost anyone appreciates how hugely significant this release is.
As it says in the announcement it opens the door to self contained Python apps being sold via Ovi Store (for example). One of the chief complaints against Symbian is how difficult it is to develop for because of having to know Symbian C++ and the quality of the developer tools (which are not actually that bad).
Python makes development of complex rich apps (easily as good as most iPhone or Android apps) at least 10 times easier, probably more (and significantly it's much easier to make an app in Python for S60 (PyS60) than it is to write it for Android or iPhone)
This now solves probably the main issue that the entire developer community had against Symbian generally. The other main issue was the quality of the app store. As we have seen in recent announcements two mainstream apps have had tremendous success on Ovi Store (e.g. over 1 million downloads of an app).
Put all this together and with Symbian you have an extremely attractive app development platform with potentially huge rewards (far bigger than iPhone or Android). It will take a while for this to seep into the global mobile developer consciousness, but it is great that this is now the case.
Nokia - if you're reading - please capitalise on the Python S60/Ovi Store significance and devote more resources to the PyS60 project.
They might all be like me - still trying to figure out what to do with the 3rdEdFP2. SDK zip file! I'm presuming it should go somewhere (unzipped) but can't find that info in any of the documentation after 3 hours.
Download the "PythonForS60_2.0.0_Setup.exe" to your computer and then install it to your computer. All the sis files will be under C:\Program Files\PythonForS60\PyS60Dependencies. Took me awhile, too!
Thanks for putting up the notice. I tried Qt but too complicated. Python has always been one of the simplest languages to use and it still holds true even for mobile.