S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 is part of the continuing evolution of S60. For C developers, and this time not just Symbian C++ developers, Feature Pack 2 delivers many new APIs and with them a whole range of new opportunities.

Open C is an extension of P.I.P.S, adding several extra libraries (or at least a good number of key functions from them.) The five additional libraries are:

• libz - compression library providing in-memory compression and decompression functions, including integrity checks of the uncompressed data with 100% implementation of functions.
• libcrypt - cryptography libraries with functions for encrypting blocks of data, messages, and password hashing and 100% implementation of functions.
• libcrypto - services used by the OpenSSL implementations of SSL, TLS, and S/MIME, which have also been used to implement SSH, OpenPGP, and other cryptographic standards. 77% of functions are implemented.
• libglib - a utility library that provides many useful data types, macros, type conversions, string utilities, file utilities, and a main loop abstraction. It works on many UNIX-like platforms, Windows, OS/2, and BeOS. Again 77% coverage.
• libssl - the OpenSSL Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) library implements SSL v2/v3 and Transport Layer Security (TLS v1) protocols. 86% coverage.

The good news is that Open C is not limited to Feature Pack 2. On Feature Pack 2 devices Open C will be available built-in, however for all other S60 3rd Edition devices Open C will be available as an installable component, which should be available from Forum Nokia around the end of February.

Open C does not eliminate Symbian C++ development, or at least only if your application has no UI and does not need to access devices features (such as the address book or calendar.) It is however be a boost to the P.I.P.S promise of opening Symbian OS to applications and application components developed in standard C.

For die-hard Symbian C++ developers Feature Pack 2 should not disappoint. There are a raft of new APIs; the big three are an application interworking API, Map framework APIs and application and network level roaming APIs.

The application interworking (AIW) API can be loosely thought of as similar to object link embedding from Windows. These APIs allow the functionality of one application to be embedded in another, without the relatively complex APIs needed in earlier version of S60 to achieve the appearance of embedding. Initially the embeddable applications are limited, being only for dialing and map functions, but new capabilities will undoubtedly be added in future releases of S60.

The Map Framework APIs will be of interest to any developer who wants to add mapping and navigation features to their application. The framework allows applications to access map, navigation and geocoding services. There is one significant limitation, the public APIs only cover the consumption of these services, so developers will be dependent, at least initially, on the map services being available on a device. The likelihood is that these services will be on high end devices, but not on mid range devices. As there are no provider APIs, developers will be reliant on device implementations to use these APIs.

The last "big" addition is the Application and network level roaming APIs. These will allow applications to keep their Internet connections as a device roam between different networks. While these APIs are perhaps less exciting than those for AIW and mapping, as mixed network usage becomes the norm any self respecting network enabled application will benefit from these APIs.

In the area of the UI there are two new APIs, the Middle Softkey API and Status Pane API. The Middle Softkey API provide access to the new middle softkey (Series 40 style) label and associated function, while the Status Pane API provides access to features on the improved status pane.

There are a few other API updates, including

• DRM Helper API.
• Light API.
• Platform Environment API.
• Connection Manager API (via Symbian OS).

As yet there is no public S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 SDK, however it is expect to become available before the middle of the year. So there is plenty of time to start planning how to map enable your application or implement that C project which would be just killer on an S60.