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<concept id="GUID-2DC89F9D-30E8-5260-8850-53E4152EE3CF" xml:lang="en"><title>Finding your way around</title><shortdesc>Read this page to learn about the contents and structure
of the library.</shortdesc><prolog><metadata><keywords/></metadata></prolog><conbody>
<section id="GUID-91A35BDC-92E4-47D6-8A04-C6E0C444C484"><title>The
platform structure and APIs</title> <p>The <xref href="GUID-32E29020-1956-461A-B79A-1492E06049E7.dita">Symbian Guide</xref> provides introductory documents to the platform as a whole, and
guides that describe the major areas of the platform in depth. </p><p>The Symbian platform is a large system, and contains hundreds
of C++ classes and thousands of member functions. Like most complex
systems, it is easiest to divide it into large areas, and gradually
to narrow your focus down to the areas that are most important to
your tasks. </p><p>The <xref href="http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Symbian_System_Model" scope="external">Symbian System Model</xref> organises the components
of the Symbian platform into a layered software architecture. The
guides in this library are also structured around this architecture.
The guides describe the key technology and architectural concepts
of the area, and show the key ways to use its classes.</p> <p>Note:
Before the System Model was introduced, the Symbian platform used
another architectural view based on large divisions called subsystems.
Some documentation has not yet been changed to use the System Model
rather than subsystems. </p> </section>
<section id="GUID-5C4DC90E-DB65-4EB7-B271-D64D5FC5A065"><title>Newcomers
to the Symbian platform</title> <p>For those developing on the Symbian
platform for the first time, the <xref href="GUID-35D7EEFC-B2E4-5444-8875-2A24790E08C2.dita">Essential Idioms</xref> section describes the distinctive programming idioms and conventions
of the Symbian platform. </p> </section>
<section id="GUID-0AA83743-82BC-473B-ABFD-20FFD6AB6485"><title>Examples</title> <p>The <xref href="GUID-270C96B0-4BDF-5A18-A8FE-FA4F78BB34EE.dita">Examples</xref> section gives instructions for building and using the large set
of C++ example projects that accompany the library. Projects include
examples that demonstrate the use of fundamental Symbian platform
classes, and many examples showing how to use particular Symbian platform
C++ APIs. </p> <p>Example code is provided for illustrative and demonstration
purposes, and should not be assumed to be useable as product code. </p></section>

<section id="GUID-C5687256-B657-4D29-B280-1837D4F991AE"><title>Tools</title><p>The library does not include documentation for most tools, which
are usually delivered separately from the Symbian platform code. See
the <xref href="http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Tools" scope="external">Tools</xref> section of the <xref href="http://developer.symbian.org/" scope="external">Symbian Developer
Community</xref> website.</p><p>The Tools section documents
the tools that are delivered with the platform. In particular, the
Build Tools Guide and the Build Tools Reference document the <cmdname>abld</cmdname>/<cmdname>bldmake</cmdname> (SBSv1) command line build
tools, and explain the project file formats. </p></section>
</conbody></concept>