C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners: Series 9 and 10

C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners: (09) for Iterations

Iterations allow our applications to loop through a block of code until a condition is satisfied. We cover several different types of iteration statements throughout this series, how to utilize "code snippets" to help remind you of the syntax for this complex statement, and debugging in action.

C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners: (10) Creating Arrays of Values

In this lesson, we talk about arrays, which are multi-part variables—a "bucket" containing other "buckets," if you will. We demonstrate how to declare and utilize arrays, and we demonstrate a couple of powerful built-in methods that give arrays added features.

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C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners: Series 7 and 8

C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners: (07) Branching with the if Decision Statement and the Conditional Operator

Branching allows us to add logic to our applications. This lesson introduces the if Decision statement (in its various forms), along with the conditional operator. We also discuss how to refactor our code to make it more compact and less likely to produce errors, by eliminating duplicate code.

C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners: (08) Operators, Expressions, and Statements Duration

In this lesson, we discuss how to create a properly formed C# statement. We discuss how statements are made up of expressions and how expressions are made up of operators (think: verbs) and operands (think: nouns). Finally, we talk about compilation errors that occur when the syntax rules of C# are ignored.

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Project Astoria: Universal Windows Platform Bridge for the Android Runtime

This video demonstrates Project Astoria - the tool to port Android apps to Windows Phone, in action

via:dev.windows.com
Following the launch of Windows 10, we will release “Project Astoria” (also referred to as “Project A”), a Universal Windows Platform Bridge toolkit that enables you to build Windows apps for phones by reusing your Android code. With “Project Astoria” you’ll be able to:

• Build Windows apps for phones with few code changes
• Use a Microsoft interoperability library to integrate Microsoft services into your app with very little effort
• Test and debug your app from your preferred IDE
• Publish your app and get paid through the Windows Store

Based on the video: With a one line code change, Microsoft shows how to switch an app from using Google Maps to Bing Maps. By creating competing services over time to what Google and Apple offer then, Microsoft can bring similar experiences to these ported apps.

It will also identifies what changes will need to be made to an existing app for another platform if a developer wants to port it to Windows. Dragging the current Android or iOS code into the Universal Windows Platform Bridge toolkit causes some preliminary analysis to take place and guide developers to what code requires tweaking.
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Grumploid

Grumploid is a great example of the accessibility of the Windows Phone platform. u/WednesdayWolf created this Windows Phone augmented reality game with no coding experience.

A Grumploid is a monster in your mobile. Care for it, watch it grow, watch it hunger. Hunt in the real world to battle and collect other Grumploids. But careful! Our world is full of terrors, and death is final.

Excerpt form /r/windowsphone
Hello /r/windowsphone,

About two years ago I found that the game that I wanted did not exist - so I decided to make it. I finished it this week - Grumploid is a monster in your mobile. Care for it, watch it grow, watch it hunger. Hunt in the real world to battle and collect other Grumploids. But careful! Our world is full of terrors, and death is final.

Finishing this would have been nearly impossible without Windows Phone and Visual Studio. I paint things. I had no idea how to program, or how to even start. But the huge amount of C# tutorials, MSDN documentation and XNA resources meant that I had everything I could possibly need (and, of course, ReSharper - my light when all other lights go out). The enthusiasm that I saw from this sub was also encouraging .

I had taken a stab at Objective-C / Java, but the difference in the quality and quantity of tutorials was staggering. Windows Phone 8 Development Internals is alone worth it's weight in gold (1723.65 grams, or $65,297.42, which can buy you one Xamarin licence). As a result I'm in the middle of writing a roadmap for /r/gamedev - the WP & Monogame combination is a powerful learning tool for my fellow novices.

Let me know what you think!
 

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C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners: Series 5 and 6

See demonstrations of some common Visual Studio IDE features, various windows, debugging features, code window features, and customizations found in Visual C# Express Edition. A more complete discussion of features is found in the Visual C# Express Edition Fundamentals series and the Visual Studio Fundamentals series, both of which are available on Channel 9.



Here, we start adding C# syntax to your vocabulary by talking about fundamental building blocks: data types and variables. We also discuss basic topics, such as naming conventions and data type conversions.

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Windows App Studio Beta gets an update

With this release, you can build a universal Windows app project that results in an app for Windows Phone and Windows, all in a one session.

Also in this week's update.

Windows Phone 8.1 side-loading. If you create Universal apps with Windows App Studio Beta, you can test the new app you've created and share it with other App Studio members.

9 new languages. Windows App Studio Beta now supports Chinese (simplified and traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, in addition to English.

New page layouts for tablets and PCs. Previously, Windows App Studio Beta only supported single page app layouts like those that are typical on a phone. But with this release, the tool can create multi-column layouts that are ideal for tablets and PCs.

Static collections and HTML. If you're using offline data sources (HTML and Static Collection types) those static resources are now stored as JSON or HTML files in the Shared/Assets/Data folder in your app. This allows them to be more easily modified.

Design-time data binding. Using the XAML capabilities that Visual Studio users rely on, Windows App Studio Beta can now bind data at design time so you don't need to run the app to see how it will look with live data loaded.

PCL improvements. Working towards full compatibility with Xamarin's cross-platform tools, Microsoft has been refactoring the code generated by Windows App Studio Beta to make it easier to build using the Xamarin PCL profile.

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