Can you develop for WebOS in something besides CSS/HTML/Javascript?

Question

I was looking at the Palm WebOS SDK and it appears to be CSS/HTML/Javascript based. Is there no strongly-typed (Java or ObjectiveC) API for it? How would you write a game, for example, without access to such a language?

Maybe I've missed something, but in digging around Palm's website I couldn't find any other way of interfacing with the device beside the troika above.

Stitching

what makes you say you need a strongly typed language to write a game? – Cornhusk

Well, I should have been a little more clear. You can write javascript games, certainly. What I meant was something a little more complex, using levels or advanced graphics like OpenGL ES. – Stitching

Answer 1

Currently no, there is no other option than Javascript/CSS/HTML.

Theoretically you could write in another language and compile that to javascript - like GWT, but there are no tools for this yet.

The expectation is that interfaces to things like OpenGL will be via WebGL.

There will very likely be support for Flash soon so that would allow you to write in action script or anything else that could compile to a Flash swf.

There is also a plugin architecture that things like "Classic", the PDF and Doc viewer have used that use native code (C), but these are not part of the SDK, and unlikely to be come so.

Shirlyshiroma

Answer 2

This is an old question, but the current answer is now yes. The PDK and SDK can work together with 1.4.5 that allows both PDK SDL and OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0 Apps, along with SDK (HTML/JS/CSS/Mojo) apps to call PDK C or C++ backend code for faster processing.

Weiman

I would add that Palm has a new PDK Hot Apps promotion starting in July to encourage developers to port apps to webOS from other platforms. Lots of prizes, including cash and $1000's in HP store credit. – Zhang