OK, so you've got a Palm OS device, and you want to do cool stuff with it... well, the yak is very connected to all things Palm.

To determine what is cool Palm software, see the Zen of Palm talks archived at the PalmSource site. Apps that have an "exit" button or menu command are uncool.

To do quick programming, nothing beats AppForge, which is Visual Basic for the Palm. Yak.net resident Charlie is one of AppForge's talented engineers. They've got a personal version for about $70 which works with the VB working model you can get out of a $10 Learn VB book.

For coding on the device, I recommend Quartus Forth, a Forth language environment that uses memo pad entries to hold your source code. Its shareware, with the registered version able to produce standalone applications.

For programs that need the power of C/C++, check out CodeWarrior for Palm OS, which is the current baby of Yak.net resident Ben Combee. CW is a great toolset for either Mac or Win32 to build Palm apps. Ben and a gang of motley programmers hang out at news.massena.com and news.palmos.com, giving advice on the developer forums there. CW for Palm OS is $499 new, $249 upgrade, and $119 academic, with discounts from good retailers. Version 8 was released in October 2001.