Ben Morris 
The Symbian OS Architecture Sourcebook 
Design and Evolution of a Mobile Phone OS

The current Symbian Press list focuses very much on the small scale
features of Symbian OS in a programming context. The Architecture
Sourcebook is different.

It’s not a how-to book, it’s a ‘what and why’ book. And because
it names names as it unwinds the design decisions which have shaped
the OS, it is also a ‘who’ book. It will show where the OS came
from, how it has evolved to be what it is, and provide a simple
model for understanding what it is, how it is put together, and how
to interface to it and work with it. It will also show why design
decision were made, and will bring those decisions to life in the
words of Symbian’s key architects and developers, giving an insider
feel to the book as it weaves the ‘inside story’ around the
architectural presentation.

The book will describe the OS architecture in terms of the
Symbian system model. It will show how the model breaks down the
system into parts, what role the parts play in the system, how the
parts are architected, what motivates their design, and how the
design has evolved through the different releases of the
system.

Key system concepts will be described; design patterns will be
explored and related to those from other operating systems. The
unique features of Symbian OS will be highlighted and their
motivation and evolution traced and described.

The book will include a substantial reference section itemising
the OS and its toolkit at component level and providing a reference
entry for each component.

Table of Content

Author biography.

Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

Part 1:The Background to Symbian OS.

Why phones are difficult.

History and pre-history of Symbian.

Introduction to the Symbian OS Architecture.

A short introduction to Object Orientation.

Part 2:The Layered Architecture View.

The Symbian OS layered model.

The UI framework.

Application services.

OS Services: Generic, Graphics & Multimedia, and
Connectivity Services.

Comms Services.

Base Services.

Kernel Services & Hardware Interface.

Symbian J2ME subsystem.

Notes on the Evolution of Symbian OS.

Part 3: Design Case Studies.

Case Study: The Use of Object-oriented Design in Symbian OS.

Case Study: Just Add Phone: The Phonification of Symbian OS.

Case Study: One Size Does Not Fit All: The Radical UI
Solution.

Case Study: System Evolution and Renewal.

Case Study: Slaying the Dragon: Creative Zoo or Software
Factory?

Part 4: Symbian OS Component Reference.

Symbian OS Component Reference.

Appendix.

About the author

Ben Morris is responsible for the System Definition functional area within System Management Group (SMG), Software Engineering Department, Symbian Ltd.