Key Resources for Windows Phone Development
As a new owner of an HTC 8X (red), I’m setting aside some time during the upcoming holidays to get my first Windows Phone app on the market. It’s likely to produce a few blog posts after the new year as I document my progress, but for now I’m like the rest of the developer population, just trying to get started.
Given that, I thought I’d share my primary resources thus far, and I suspect they’ll serve you well too.
Generation App. It’s a free program that provides a structured, self-paced flow of information over a span of thirty days to lead you from installing the tools all the way through submitting your app to the marketplace. I’m currently on Day 3 and have a killer mini-browser to impress my friends and family.
Generation App also provides similar tracks for Windows 8 development for games, applications, and those with web development backgrounds. From time to time, there’s even special offers, promotions, and contests that you can get access to only via the program. Even if you don’t plan on doing development quite yet, it’s a great, methodical way to learn about the platform without having to Google Bing it!
Build 2012 recordings. The new Windows Phone platform was unveiled at Build 2012 at the end of October, and there are nearly three dozen excellent presentations by engineering, QA, and program management on the features of the platform as well as best practices for building applications for Windows Phone, including how to ‘light up’ Windows Phone 7.x applications you may already have in the marketplace. You can search through the sessions on Channel 9 for those that are of the most interest to you. My recommendation is to start off with Windows Phone 8 Application Model and Critical Developer Practices for Delivering Outstanding Applications.
Windows Phone Jumpstart recordings. At the end of November, Andy Wigley and Rob Tiffany presented Building Apps for Windows Phone 8 Jump Start, a two-day, 20-session training event focused on getting experienced developers up to speed on the new platform. Just last week, the recordings were made available on Channel 9 – if you start now with one a day, you’ll be able to hit the New Year running with your newly gained insight!
The Windows Phone Dev Center is your portal to SDK downloads, API and design documentation, and your Windows Phone Developer account. Particularly helpful are the several hundred samples covering Windows Phone 7.x and 8) with complete source code to demonstrate the wide array