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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 <xref href="GUID-A837D8F6-B9D3-5119-8C63-51772B388999.dita">Symbian Tools And Utilities</xref> section
documents the tools that are delivered with the platform. In particular, the <xref href="GUID-B21141D4-3BFE-59C9-8D5F-147A93BE1C95.dita">Build Tools Guide</xref> and
the <xref href="GUID-49397CFD-955A-5DF6-9251-368C44224966.dita">Build Tools Reference</xref> document
the <cmdname>abld</cmdname>/<cmdname>bldmake</cmdname> (SBSv1) command line
build tools, and explain the project file formats. </p></section>
</conbody></concept>