TouchDevelop

Smartphones are set to become the main computers that virtually all people will own and carry in their pockets at all times. And yet, smartphones are not yet used for all computing tasks. A project at Microsoft Research wanted to answer a simple question: It is possible to create interesting apps directly on a smartphone, without using a separate PC or a keyboard? The result is TouchDevelop, a programming environment that runs on all mobile devices. §This book walks you through all of the screens of the TouchDevelop app, and it points out similarities and differences of the TouchDevelop language compared to other programming languages. For users, the book can serve as a handy reference next to the phone. The book systematically addresses all programming language constructs, starting from the very basic constructs such as variables and loops. The book also explores many of the phone sensors and data sources which make creating apps for mobile devices so rewarding.§If you are new to programming with TouchDevelop, or if you have not yet worked on touchscreen devices, we suggest that you read the book starting from Chapter 1. If you are already familiar with the basic paradigm of theTouchDevelop programming environment, then feel free to jump ahead to the later chapters that address particular topic areas.§The book is written from the perspective of a Windows Phone user all screenshots and navigation instructions refer to the Windows Phone app. The TouchDevelop Web App also runs in many modern browsers on many different devices such as the iPhone, iPad, Android phones, tablets, Macs, and PCs. The Web App uses the same programming language and has a very similar navigation structure to the TouchDevelop Windows Phone app. As a result, you can reuse the lessons of this book when you create mobile apps in your web browser.§