Free ebook: Programming Windows Phone 7 Series (DRAFT Preview)
Do you recognize this man?
That’s Charles Petzold! Looking stylish with the cover of his free ebook on his tee shirt. It’s a draft preview of his upcoming book (to be published in the fall): Programming Windows Phone 7 Series. This preview ebook contains six chapters in three parts (153 pages total):
Part I Getting Started
Chapter 1 Phone Hardware + Your Software
Chapter 2 Hello, Windows Phone
Part II Silverlight
Chapter 3 Code and XAML
Chapter 4 Presentation and Layout
Part III XNA
Chapter 5 Principles of Movement
Chapter 6 Textures and Sprites
Here’s a quick excerpt from the ebook:
Chapter 1
Phone Hardware + Your SoftwareSometimes it becomes apparent that previous approaches to a problem haven’t quite worked the way you anticipated. Perhaps you just need to clear away the smoky residue of the past, take a deep breath, and try again with a new attitude and fresh ideas. In golf, it’s known as a “mulligan”; in schoolyard sports, it’s called a “do-over”; and in the computer industry, we say it’s a “reboot.”
A reboot is what Microsoft has initiated with its new approach to the mobile phone market. On February 15, 2010, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series and promised a product introduction in time for year-end holiday shopping. With its clean look, striking fonts, and new organizational paradigms, Windows Phone 7 Series not only represents a break with the Windows Mobile past but also differentiates itself from other smartphones currently in the market.
For programmers, the news from Barcelona was certainly intriguing but hardly illuminating. Exactly how do we write programs for this new Windows Phone 7 Series? Developers detected a few hints but no real facts. The really important stuff wouldn’t be disclosed until mid-March at MIX 2010 in Las Vegas.
Silverlight or XNA?
Intelligent speculation about the application platform for the Windows Phone 7 Series has gravitated around two possibilities: Silverlight and XNA.
Since about 2008, programmers have been impatiently awaiting the arrival of a mobile version of Silverlight. Silverlight, a spinoff of the client-based Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), has already given Web programmers unprecedented power to develop sophisticated user interfaces with a mix of traditional controls, high-quality text, vector graphics, media, animation, and data binding that run on multiple platforms and browsers. Many programmers thought Silverlight would be an excellent platform for writing applications and utilities for smartphones.
XNA—the three letters stand for something like “XNA is Not an Acronym”—is Microsoft’s game platform supporting both 2D sprite-based and 3D graphics with a traditional game-loop architecture. Although XNA is mostly associated with writing games for the Xbox 360 console, developers can also target the PC itself, as well as Microsoft’s classy audio player, the Zune. The 2009 release of the Zune HD particularly seemed to suggest a mobile future built around the device’s revamped graphics and multitouch navigation. For many Zune HD users, the most disappointing feature of the device was its inability to make phone calls!
Either Silverlight or XNA would make good sense as the application platform for the Windows Phone 7 Series, but the decision from Microsoft is:Both!
The Windows Phone 7 Series supports programs written for either Silverlight or XNA. And this we call “an embarrassment of riches.”
You can download the ebook in XPS format here. Here it is in PDF format. And the zipped code samples for this draft preview are here.
Charles is at MIX; say hello and ask him about programming for the Windows Phone. And enjoy, everybody!
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Comments
Anonymous
March 15, 2010
Thank you! Very interested in this technology and book!Anonymous
March 15, 2010
You're welcome, Mark! Check back for the ebook's code samples.Anonymous
March 15, 2010
If I'm going to learn to program a Windows 7 Phone who better than the man who helped teach me to program Windows 3.0. ;) BillAnonymous
March 15, 2010
where should i submit errors and typos?Anonymous
March 15, 2010
Joey, you can send them to me (devonm).Anonymous
March 15, 2010
Very cool... Petzold's Progamming Windows 3.1 was THE bible for programming windows back in the day.Anonymous
March 15, 2010
Thank you for this early look at Charles' book! I've just put a small post about the ebook here: http://www.superwasp.net/weblog/2010/03/free-ebook-programming-windows-phone-7.htmAnonymous
March 15, 2010
Hi Charles! Your book does seem quite informative and interesting. XNA and Silverlight is a fascinating technology. I primarily work on Android. Wonder how Windows 7 Phones will be like if you compare them with Droid or Nexus 1. What edge does Windows Mobile would offer that is not there in Android or iPhone.Anonymous
March 15, 2010
Charles has no intention to write also a book on C#?Anonymous
March 18, 2010
How can I download this preview e-book?Anonymous
March 18, 2010
Thank you Charles! The circle is complete...I started out with your Windows 3.1, now your Windows 7, and everything else in between. You're practically family! :)Anonymous
March 18, 2010
How many month will it be before the Windows Phone application I write today will no longer be compatible?Anonymous
March 18, 2010
http://stoplinux.org.ru/category/news/v_rossii_windows_7_prodaetsya_v_4_raza_luchshe_vista_i_v_30_raz_luchshe_xp.htmlAnonymous
March 18, 2010
Nice book, I'd like to see focused on Windows Phone 7 series specifics. It's a great intro to XAML and XNA, I think the title is misleading. If you need an editor for future XAML or WP7 books, I'm keen to help out!Anonymous
March 18, 2010
Nice book, I'd like to see focused on Windows Phone 7 series specifics. It's a great intro to XAML and XNA, I think the title is misleading. If you need an editor for future XAML or WP7 books, I'm keen to help out!Anonymous
March 18, 2010
That's a great book for developers! I hope the book will publish ASAP.Anonymous
March 18, 2010
Nice book, Thanks! If you need an editor for future XAML or WP7 books, I'm keen to help out!Anonymous
March 18, 2010
When I heard about it, I didn't believe. Thanks for taking time to write about programming on Windows Phone 7 Series platform! I am waiting for its final version... :)Anonymous
March 19, 2010
Hey everybody, thanks for all your comments! By the way, in case we didn't make it clear in the post, this ebook is short preview of a much longer book Charles is writing. And even the chapters in the ebook are only in the early stages of the chapters they'll become.Anonymous
May 11, 2010
I am not sure "re: Free ebook:Programming ...." is all about and would like more information. I have used Macs f and programmed them for many years, Now I have a toshiba using Windows 7 home premiumand would like to learn how to program it!Anonymous
May 12, 2010
Why do we have to wait till the fall for this book? Won't it make more sense to get it out there before WP7 hits the public for developers to have apps ready by then? I really don't get this sense of timing or lack of it. Right about now, various groups are rallying several WP7 study groups but there is no book to use to teach and learn WP7 app/game dev. This really makes no sense.Anonymous
May 12, 2010
The book title (and perhaps some internal details) also needs to be updated to "Programming Windows Phone 7"....lose the series please.Anonymous
May 13, 2010
Techieg, we're doing our best to produce the highest quality guidance possible as soon as possible. Our schedule is driven by quality more than anything else. Online, the "DRAFT Preview" is a snapshot in time. If we release another "DRAFT Preview" before we release the final full book, it'll have the new title (and be as accurate as it can be at that moment).Anonymous
May 27, 2010
hi, Do you know, how can you improve your site.Anonymous
June 10, 2010
hi, Do you know, how can you improve your site?Anonymous
June 10, 2010
Hi, it's a nice book. One question: Will it be translated to german, because it's difficult to read, not everything but some things.Anonymous
July 13, 2010
Nice example.. its good way to attract for this new technology..Anonymous
August 09, 2010
Excellent book...hope it also will be made available on Kindle (then you got one more customer here at least;)Anonymous
October 11, 2010
Hi: Windows Mobile 6.5 was a deritive of Windows CE. Is Windows Phone 7 also a 'CE' deritive -- meaning if you have to tools to program in CE you can program in Phone 7? What compilers and IDE are required? Thanks, GregAnonymous
October 11, 2010
This Old guy rocks! >D but he looks scary as well >(Anonymous
October 12, 2010
Greg, here's a response from Charles Petzold: "Although the operating system kernel in Windows Phone 7 is a version of Windows CE, application programs do not access that operating system directly. Instead, there are two application programming interfaces: Silverlight for Windows Phone (a variation of Silverlight 3) and XNA Game Studio 4. You program for these APIs using C# or (now in beta) Visual Basic .NET using Visual Studio 10 with the Windows Phone 7 Programming Tools installed."Anonymous
October 24, 2010
Thankss!!!Anonymous
October 27, 2010
Nice book. I set up a forum at www.WindowsPhoneDevForum.com to help developers discuss any issues or ideas they may have. Looking forward to seeing the full book.Anonymous
November 15, 2010
Thank you very much Charles ! I hope WP7 programming more easiest now ;-) Regards.Anonymous
February 16, 2011
www.charlespetzold.com/phoneAnonymous
October 11, 2013
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