Different editions of Symbian

Question

I have to built a project in Symbian. I am having and confusion and had some question related to Symbian version.

1. What is the difference between Symbian^3, S60 3rd edition and S60 5th edition?
2. Is there any major difference as coding point of view with Symbian^3, S60 3rd edition, S60 5th edition?
3. Does the code built in S60 3rd edition will work in S60 5th edition or code built in Sybmian^3 will work in S60 3rd edition, S60 5th edition or vice versa?
4. Which IDE do we have to use for Symbian^3, S60 3rd edition, S60 5th edition?
5. Which language does we have to use for coding in Symbian^3, S60 3rd edition, S60 5th edition?

Answer 1

What is the difference between Symbian^3,S60 3rd edition,S60 5th edition?

They're different versions of Symbian operating system with S60 middleware/user interface layer. Newer versions introduce additional OS features and APIs.

Symbian^n is the versionin scheme introduced when the base Symbian OS and S60 layer were merged into one single platform provided by now-defunct Symbian Foundation. Currently the platform is developed in-house by Nokia.

S60 3rd Edition (S60 3.x) is based on Symbian OS v9.1. It supports only keyboard-based input.

S60 5th Edition (S60 5.0) is based on Symbian OS v9.4. It adds support to touch-based input.

Symbian^3 is the newest incarnation of the platform. It's essentially Symbian OS v9.5 + S60 5.2.

Is there any major difference as coding point of view with Symbian^3,S60 3rd edition,S60 5th edition?

Not all features and APIs available on newer versions are available on devices with older OS. Since there are major differences in input mechanisms (keyboard, touch), you may want to have a different UI optimized for the input method.

Does the code built in S603rd edition will work in S605th edition or code built is Sybmian^3 will work in S60 3rd edition,S60 5th edition or vice versa?

Code built on older platforms will work on devices having newer versions of the platform.

Code build on newer platforms will work on devices having older versions of the platform, provided that you only use those APIs that are also available in the older platform versions.

Which IDE do we have to use for Symbian^3,S60 3rd edition,S60 5th edition? Which language does we have to use for coding in Symbian^3,S60 3rd edition,S60 5th edition?

Most applications are written in C++, using either native Symbian C++ APIs or Qt libraries. You don't have to use any IDE but you can use e.g. Carbide.C++ or Qt Creator for all of those platforms.

Other language options include e.g. Java ME or Python for S60.

Visit Forum Nokia for additional information and downloads.

Answer 2

1. What is the difference between Symbian^3, S60 3rd edition and S60 5th edition?
2. Does the code built in S60 3rd edition will work in S60 5th edition or code built in Sybmian^3 will work in S60 3rd edition, S60 5th edition or vice versa?

See binary compatibility reports between S60 5th edition and Symbian^3 on ARM and between S60 3rd edition and S60 5th edition on ARM generated by the abi-compliance-checker tool for the detailed comparison.