PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide, Second Edition

Chapter 4. The Four Primary Programs

Without a doubt, much of the fun of PalmPiloting is using the kinds of add-on programs included with this book. But for thousands of Palm owners, the four primary built-in programs are enough.

During the machine’s development, Palm Computing programmers became obsessed over tap counts . They’d sit around and tally the number of stylus taps—on buttons and other controls—that were necessary to accomplish frequently used tasks, such as recording an appointment.

That attention to detail and streamlining paid off. Palm’s Big Four—the programs launched by the four rounded hardware buttons at the bottom of the device—are surprisingly complete, elegant, and efficient.

The Date Book

Although there are thousands of add-on programs for the PalmPilot, few programmers have attempted to write a replacement for the Date Book program. That fact is a testimony to this program’s completeness; if you’ve ever whipped out your PalmPilot, pressed a single button to view your next appointment, and then watched the faces of nearby laptop users who would have required three minutes to start up their machines and retrieve the same information, you know exactly what I mean.

Viewing the Day’s Events

To check your upcoming appointments, press the plastic Date Book button at the lower-left corner of your palmtop. That button turns the machine on, launches the Date Book program, and flips to today’s date. The display looks something like Figure 4.1.

Figure 4-1. The Date Book ...