How do I start building a Windows Phone App?

[Usman Mubashir]

I am a college student, and like most, I like following technology. In my particular taste, I love programming. Its in my bones.
From iPhone to Android, I have made some accurate predictions about their respective success and this has got me really hyped about Windows Phone. So much that when I started learning Programming I was day-dreaming of making my first app ever.
But here is the catch, I only know basic programming (in C++) and few techniques like OOP and DS, I've tried playing around with the WP8 SDK but none has got me what I need/want. Maybe its that I still have to learn so much or just that I don't have the right direction.
Can any Windows Phone Developer guide me on how to make an App? A Windows Phone Exclusive App? It would be nice to have a book which can help me through, I don't like videos that much. Or even a free Udemy Course for that matter.
Any help is welcome, but please elaborate, and explain the details I might not understand.
Thanks. :smile:

 

[coip]

I am a college student, and like most, I like following technology. In my particular taste, I love programming. Its in my bones.
From iPhone to Android, I have made some accurate predictions about their respective success and this has got me really hyped about Windows Phone. So much that when I started learning Programming I was day-dreaming of making my first app ever.
But here is the catch, I only know basic programming (in C++) and few techniques like OOP and DS, I've tried playing around with the WP8 SDK but none has got me what I need/want. Maybe its that I still have to learn so much or just that I don't have the right direction.
Can any Windows Phone Developer guide me on how to make an App? A Windows Phone Exclusive App? It would be nice to have a book which can help me through, I don't like videos that much. Or even a free Udemy Course for that matter.
Any help is welcome, but please elaborate, and explain the details I might not understand.
Thanks. :smile:

I was interested in building a Windows Phone app too, although I have absolutely no programming acumen. I hear that the place to start is Microsoft Visual Studio. If you master that you are over the mountain, but perhaps some actual Windows Phone developers can chime in here.

 

[DBDev]

This is a great series for learning to code: Windows Phone 8 Development for Absolute Beginners | Channel 9

It is videos though, but they are great! I learned a lot from the previous WP7 series by the same person :smile:

 

[Usman Mubashir]

This is a great series for learning to code: Windows Phone 8 Development for Absolute Beginners | Channel 9

It is videos though, but they are great! I learned a lot from the previous WP7 series by the same person :smile:

Thanks, I have checked the videos before. Most of them assume I have already mastered many languages, which I haven't.

Any Dev out there???

 

[xandros9]

Thanks, I have checked the videos before. Most of them assume I have already mastered many languages, which I haven't.

Any Dev out there???

there's a C# absolute beginner series which I think is linked to. I'm pretty sure it says somewhere it requires previous knowledge from that series.

 

[DBDev]

Oh, sorry, they made the WP8 version different, in WP7 you didn't need any prior knowledge. Then I recommend you to watch the WP7 version or the C# beginner series by the same person

http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Phone-7-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners

C# Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners | Channel 9

 

[hopmedic]

When you get beyond the C# basics, here's a free thousand page book by Charles Petzold (well-known author) on WP7 development, in case you learn better from books than you do from the already-provided video links. I taught myself C# and WP (coming from VB, so a good bit different than C++), using this book, videos, blogs, and other assorted things.
"Programming Windows Phone 7" by Charles Petzold

 

[Usman Mubashir]

Thanks a million guys

 

[jridgers]

Is there a resource for those that don't have any coding skills or the acumen to learn those skills?

 

[hopmedic]

Pluralsight has a free course for teaching kids to program in c#. I haven't looked at it, so I don't know what is in it, but hey, it's free. :wink:

Teaching Kids Programming with C# - Online Training Course for Developers

 

[Lori Lalonde]

You can leverage your C++ knowledge to develop apps for Windows Phone 8. To get started in Windows Phone 8 development, you can read these posts to get started:


Setting Up Your Windows Phone Development Environment in 30 Minutes (or less) - Canadian Developer Connection - Site Home - MSDN Blogs -> this post talks about downloading the Windows Phone SDK which will also install Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Phone. This IDE will include project templates in C++ which you can use to build your apps so you can leverage the skills you already have to start building those apps.

Other useful posts include:
Time Saving Tips to Get Your Windows Phone App Started - Canadian Developer Connection - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
Making Money From Your Windows Phone Apps - Canadian Developer Connection - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
Publishing Your App – It’s Not The Last Thing You’ll Do - Canadian Developer Connection - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

I hope this helps!

 

[jacksparao]

Many help full links.. Thanks for sharing.. Soon my windows phone app will be live.......

 

[Mohammad Arshad]

Not a WP8 dev officially (been dabbling on and off), but have been making iOS and Android apps for around 1.5 years so my 2 cents are:

1) Start by learning C#.
2) Go through this course: Introduction to Windows Phone 8 - Online Training Course for Developers, the author takes you through various UI controls of WP8, and 'introduces' the design philosophy. Not very in-depth, but i found it easier to follow than the channel 9 videos.
3) Try to replicate the WPcentral windows phone app.

 

[Usman Mubashir]

I cannot download all of these videos as they are too long for me to use the free account.

can you please take some time to share these videos with me?

https://copy.com?r=3WQUgh

 

[Woknox]

Creating a small simple app requires you to master the secrets of:

- C# and the beautifull .Net framework
- Visual Studio
- Xaml

And for integration with third-party software / services you should learn something about:

- WCF / Webservices
- Json

Do not forget that you do not have to create commonly used functionalities by yourselve, these are probably available in NuGet packages.

When you are ready to take your app to the next level I can recommend you to master the MVVM design pattern, this will make your app very scalable

 

[Usman Mubashir]

II guess it will be a long summer for me this year!

 

[aneeshd16]

If you want to get your hands dirty quickly you can start with app studio. It also generates the source code for you
http://appstudio.windowsphone.com/

 

[Woknox]

If you want to get your hands dirty quickly you can start with app studio. It also generates the source code for you
Windows Phone App Studio - Microsoft

This is a great tool to start with and to see the potential of the Windows Phone dev platform. But I think that every app-developer should understand the sourcecode for every app that will be published in the store to give good support and react to bug report and feature requests.