Experiments with Windows Phone 7 Programming

Any idea what all are the basic skill sets required to make a Windows Phone 7 application? I had assumed rocket science until i met a friend of mine 2 days back. I am more of a .NET guy mostly into WPF, XAML, C#, SQL Server, XML etc along with the knowledge of some architectures like MVC and MVVM.

So again what are the skill sets required to start off with WP7 app development?

The underlying framework is .NET itself.

Okay, that's interesting and not so much hard to believe. Why will Microsoft think of anything else when they have a great framework available with them. But yeah development environment must be something alien?

No, it's Visual Studio 2010 itself and they do have an express version if you cannot afford the licensed one.

Oh wow this is something cool. And so the languages used will be greek and latin? Don't tell me it's C#!

Obviously it is C# (CLS compliant in the true sense) and XAML for your markup.

And we can make awesome designs using Expression Blend?

Perfect, my adventure with mobile apps begins now.

But wait, there is a catch. You need to have a developer profile created with Windows Phone store to actually test your applications in your device (HTC or any suitable) and even to deploy them. And the developer certificate comes at a cost. But that does not stop you from trying out an app in the simulator coming along with the developer package.

Reflector is no more?

It's been long, not having enough appetite to search around for new tools or features available and to write about them as my serious concentration is moving towards devices and apps in the mobile world. But then thought of looking around what my buddies are doing with their blogs. One buddy had long stopped blogging even though he had a great sense of words and reading his blogs used to be fun. But lately i got to know that he is seriously into it and has a dedicated blog space for himself. Check out http://semikolan.net if you like some fun reading

Click, click and i was there wanting to see what he has to offer!!! The first offering itself was such an awful information about Reflector, the .NET tool which we still use with so much of passion (may sound a little exaggerated but still a great tool we always refer to), no more remaining as a free tool.

My buddy has termed it "Death of Reflector – No more “Free” as in Free Beer". The statement may sound funny but there is an alarm ringing which tells you that whatever is free today may come for a price and it can be a big surprise as well. Just think when Google search takes the same route! This is kinda wild thought but still a possibility.


Okay, so the final nail in the coffin, the expiration date of the older free version of the Red Gate Reflector is going to be June 2011. Just be aware and prepare for alternatives. Check this blog if you need to know more about alternatives.

Gadgets, mobile apps review blog

Please have a look at my new blog which deals with reviews of mobile devices, apps, gadgets etc.

http://iosfreaky.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!!!

MVVM Training - "In the Box" by Karl Shifflett

Something interesting has come up called "In the Box". This i guess is an MVVM training package shared by guru Karl Shifflett.

Reviews are really encouraging - 

"Great MVVM training and one stop reference. Simple and well laid out. I hope there will be future installments."

"Yup, I'm a big fan. I installed this on the advice of @shanselman and I could not be any more impressed by the layout and the attention to detail."

"This is great! Where was this 5 weeks ago when I was learning this the long hard way? When I say long and hard, that means performing searches and reading every blog and framwork (How's ocean v3?) that I could find. Having it all in one place is something that I was thinking of creating myself, but you have done it even better. Thanks!

What would be an extra bonus if you could get extra content from Julie Lerman and Steve Bohlen on some advanced Entity Framework ideas, the people from Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework to add edge case scenarios (I've sent requests for such) and Ward Bell from IdeaBlade for (big!) time saving ideas in MVVM design and debugging."

I am gonna really dig deep into it and see what's there in store, and gonna share my learning...until then....ciao