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Symbian OS is an operating system with associated libraries, user interface frameworks and reference implementations of common tools, produced by Symbian. It is a descendent of Psion's EPOC.There are multiple user interface flavours that use the Symbian OS, such as UIQ and Nokia's Series 60. The adaptability of the user interface enables the use of Symbian OS on various form-factors of hand-held devices: clam-shell or tablet, keyboard and/or pen, PDA or mobile phone, and others.
Symbian OS is structured like many desktop operating systems, with pre-emptive multitasking, multithreading and memory protection.
Symbian OS's major advantage is the fact that it was built for handheld devices with limited resources that may be running for months or years. There is a strong emphasis on conserving memory, using Symbian-specific programming idioms such as descriptor s and a cleanup stack . Together with other techniques, these keep memory usage low and memory leaks rare. There are similar techniques for conserving disk space (though the disks on Symbian devices are usually flash memoryFlash memory is a form of EEPROM that allows multiple memory locations to be erased or written in one programming operation. Normal EEPROM only allows one location at a time to be erased or written, meaning that flash can operate at higher effective speed). Furthermore, all Symbian OS programming is event-based, and the CPU is switched off when applications are not directly dealing with an event. This is achieved through a programming idiom called active objectsActive Objects are a form of multitasking for computer systems. Specifically, they are a form of cooperative multitasking. They are an important feature of Symbian OS. In the scheme, objects may make requests of asynchronous services. For example an appli. Without using these techniques properly, an application can wear down the battery of a phone in just a couple of hours; with them, the battery lasts for a week.
All of this makes Symbian OS's flavour of C++C+ (pronounced "sea plus plus") is a general-purpose computer programming language. It is a statically typed free-form multi-paradigm language supporting procedural programming, data abstraction, object-oriented programming, and generic programming. Durin very specialised, and quite hard to program. However, for those wanting an easier life, Symbian OS devices can also be programmed in OPLThe Open Programming Language (OPL) is a programming language for the Symbian Operating System that can be found on e. the Nokia 9200 Communicator series mobile telephone/ PDA. OPL is an interpreted language similar to BASIC. The language was originally c, PythonPython is an interpreted, interactive programming language created by Guido van Rossum in 1990, originally as a scripting language for Amoeba OS capable of making system calls. Python is often compared to Tcl, Perl, Scheme, Java and Ruby. Python is develo, Visual BasicVisual Basic VB is an event driven programming language and associated development environment, created by Microsoft. It is derived heavily from BASIC. VB enables Rapid Application Development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications; allows e, SimkinSimkin is a scripting language that can be embedded in Java or C++ applications. It can be stored in a variety of file formats, including XML. External links Domain-specific programming languages Scripting languages. and Perl - together with the J2ME and Personal Java flavours of Java.
The current Symbian OS is derived from the EPOC32 operating system, which was used on Psion Series 5, Revo, Sienna, and NetBook PDAs and originally developed by Psion Software. The Symbian OS has since gone though revisions.
In 2004 the first worm for mobile phones using Symbian OS, Cabir, was developed, which used Bluetooth to spread itself to nearby phones.
