Hey all, I have just been assigned a project. I basically have to make ANYTHING in java or c++.

What I really want to make is a measuring device which uses the n900's accelerometer to gauge distance, I thought of this the other day when I needed to buy an ethernet cable for my pc but couldn't guess the length.. As previously stated I have the option to do this in either java or c++. I have very limited knowledge of both, but I have three months to do the project.

So here are a couple of my key questions.

Are both languages practical to make software for the N900 ?

If so, which language would you use and why ?

Do you have any resources which would put me in the right direction to learning about how to interface with the hardware?

It seems to me that Qt would be quite helpful in this project.
Do you have anything to say about Qt?

Thanks guys n_n love you .

This might be a hard project. Did you read http://wiki.maemo.org/Accelerometers ?
It suggests that it's not really accurate enough to measure a long distance.

I was thinking of perhaps then just making a basic stationary first-person shooter that relied on rotating your body whilst holding the n900 to shoot targets in a 3d engine. Or perhaps virtual targets overlayed onto the camera feed output. Your thoughts >?

1) Java is probably not an option at the moment for the N900. There are many languages you can use but you're limited to 2 frameworks: GTK and Qt.

2) If you are specifically asked to use java or c++, I would then select c++ and in this case develop a Qt application. I personally like Qt and if you know your c++ then it should be straight forward for you to pick it up.

3) For Qt development I would recommend installing Mad Developer to your N900 and downloading the Qt SDK to your PC and you can start moving from there.

Remember that the N900 doesn't have a compass.

writing your first game is always hard. i had a tough time making pong in c++ in 1st year computer science class. make sure your teacher is okay with grading a mobile application, if he/she needs to borrow your phone to test it out that could be a problem...
One of my friends wrote a game that needed DirectX and the teacher refused to install it and gave him an F!

ah yes

Then perhaps just a basic aiming game using the accelerometer it is then. Camera feed to could still be incorporated couldn't it? Perhaps like just aiming and shooting floating targets imposed over camera feed by reorienting/rotating the device and pushing the shutter. Please tell me if I'm getting way ahead of myself :P

I don't think you're looking to use an accelerometer. What you need is something that could detect 6 degrees of freedom (A gyroscope + accel perhaps).

Newest devices have 3 things.
Gyroscope accelerometer magnetometer

The N900 only has an accelerometer