Programming For The Newton

Programming For The Newton

I've been toying with the idea of writing an app for the Newton. So I got a copy of Programming for the Newton. Bought it online from a bookstore in India. Cost me $24 plus $6 shipping and arrived in 6 days! If I were to send it cross-country by Canada Post it would cost me $12 and take at least 10 days.

Anyway, I've been reading the book and learning about NewtonScript. What a cool language. While the authors compare it to C and Pascal with enhancements, I see it more like modern Javascript. Variables aren't typed but their values are. NewtonScript's Frames and Slots seems like JSON with the added cool feature of having a function in a slot as well.

I haven't gotten far in the book but it is getting me excited about trying my hand it Newton programming. Of course I'll want to come up with something that hasn't been done on the Newton before. Hmm...

nBlog

13 years after Apple discontinued the Newton MessagePad line I got my first one, a 2100, and the last model they produced. And I love it! Besides excellent built-in PIM apps and third-party programs, there is an amazing community behind the Newton still producing apps, drivers, and patches.

It is this community that has enabled me to post this blog entry wirelessly from my Newton. A patch to fix the 2010 bug, a wifi driver, and software to post via XML-RPC brought it all together. And while early Newton's were slammed in the press for their poor handwriting recognition, later versions solved this problem and have incredible handwriting recognition. In fact, this entire post was "handwritten".

What does this have to do with LAMP? Absolutely nothing! There is a Telnet app for the Newton though. Hmm, possibilities...