The best way to view or build Crosswords source is to check it out via git:

git clone git://xwords.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/xwords/xwords xwords

Right now most development is on the android_branch. To view that, you'd do

# cd xwords/xwords4/

# git branch --track android_branch origin/android_branch
Branch android_branch set up to track remote branch
+refs/remotes/origin/android_branch.

# git checkout android_branch
Switched to branch "android_branch"

Use something like gitk to browse the project history once you've cloned it. If Sourceforge has a decent git repository browser I haven't found it.

Crosswords was previously maintained using subversion, and before that cvs. You may still be able to browse those repositories but they are out-of-date.

The cross-platform part of Crosswords is written in ANSI C. The Franklin- and Symbian-specific parts are written in C++, PalmOS and PocketPC platforms stick to C, while Android uses java in addition to the cross-platform C code which is packaged as a jni library.

If you're interested in contributing to the project, please let us know!