Developers who have struggled with APIs on Microsoft Windows, the Macintosh, or the X Window System will like working with Be. It provides consistent and intuitive methods for creating interfaces and handling messages. Programming the Be Operating System teaches Be from the ground up. It begins with typical "Hello, world" programs and gradually adds elements of the graphical interface. It carefully describes drawing and message handling. While the focus is on the graphical interface, basic OS features like threads and file handling are also introduced.

"The explosive growth in the BeOS development community (over 10,000 registered developers) really underscores the need for a modern operating system that can elegantly handle digital media, and it highlights just how strong the BeOS is as a development platform," said Timothy Self, vice president of developer relations at Be, Incorporated. "There are some very exciting applications in development, particularly in the area of audio and video editing and viewing."

Be runs on both PowerPC and Intel platforms, offering the same API on both. The programs in this book will therefore compile and run on any platform. Be's own integrated development environment, BeIDE (originally Metrowerks CodeWarrior), is used to develop all examples. Chapter 8 of this just-released programming guide is available free on the web at: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/beosprog/