One webOS-related question which keeps popping up over and over again is the one about the native SDK: why is all Pre development restricted to JavaScript?
I recently found the following answer on a mailing list – it was posted there by a former Palm insider:
Not having a binary interface means Palm has far more flexibility in changing the hardware… already that have two devices with different versions of the ARM core, which means code that was compiled to take advantage of the NEON instructions in the Cortex-A8 on the Pre would fail on the ARM11-based Pixi. It also means they can change a lot of the low-level interfaces and implementations without breaking app code, which is very likely. Maybe my webOS 2.0 they’ll have that level stable enough to support app services — it took Android until the 1.6 OS release to support native shared libraries.
From my personal point of view, the issue is different: for now, native development is restricted to some companies “in Palm’s inner circle”. Once their exclusivity has run out, other developers are let into the arena.
Keep in mind that Palm has had huge issues keeping developers in line after the Foleo and Cobalt debacles. Thus, and in order to retain at least a small core base, well – you get the idea.
P.S. Recompilation…what a horror, but its all smoke and mirrors. Anybody ever heard of FPU emulation or fat binaries?
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