P.I.P.S. is a term (recursive acronym) for Symbian software libraries, and means "P.I.P.S. Is POSIX on Symbian OS". It is intended to help C language programmers in migration of desktop and server middleware, applications to Symbian OS based mobile smartphone devices.

Software libraries

The PIPS software libraries provides C and C++ application programming interfaces in standard C libraries such as

  • POSIX libc – The "C Standard Library" with system APIs mapped to Symbian OS APIs for better performance libm – A mathematical library libpthread – Implements POSIX-style threading support in terms of the underlying Symbian OS thread support libdl – Implements POSIX-style dynamic linking which extends the dynamic loading model of Symbian OS
  • LIBZ libz
  • OpenSSL libcrypt libcrypto libssl
  • GNOME libglib

Limitations

The P.I.P.S. environment does not support true signalling. Basic signal support is emulated using threads.

Extensions and successors: Open C and Open C++

Open C and Open C++ are extensions by Nokia of P.I.P.S. In contrast to mere P.I.P.S., they were only for Series 60 phones.

Naming

The name was the result of an internal competition in the Symbian Developer Marketing department, organised by Bruce Carney (Developer Marketing) and Erik Jacobson (Product Manager). The full-stops were inserted by Symbian's Legal department to ensure there were no trademark or copyright infringements.

See also

Further reading

  • Babin, Steve (2007). Developing Software for Symbian OS – A Beginner's Guide to Creating Symbian OS V9 Smartphone Applications in C++. Wiley. p. 460. ISBN 978-0470725702.
  • Stichbury, Jo (2008). Games on Symbian OS – A Handbook for Mobile Development. Wiley. p. 400. ISBN 978-0470998144.
  • Wilcox, Mark (2009). Porting to the Symbian Platform – Open Mobile Development in C/C++. Wiley. p. 442. ISBN 978-0470746172.

External links