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TouchDevelop - Programming on the GO

TouchDevelop by Microsoft research is an application development environment that can be accessed from anywhere from any device.It can be your phone,tablet or PC.
Through TouchDevelop, users can create scripts (i.e., apps/games written using TouchDevelop) to access data, media, and sensors on a smart phone, tablet or PC. The scripts can also interact with the cloud services for storage, computing, and social networks. TouchDevelop applications can serve many purposes and are typically written for fun, for personalizing the phone, and for creating productivity tools.
TouchDevelop brings the excitement of the first programmable personal computers to the now ubiquitous mobile devices. Scripts developed using TouchDevelop allow users to show and manipulate music and pictures stored on their own mobile devices, to use the device’s sensors, and to interact with friends in their social networks. 

 You may still ask Why TouchDevelop? Here's my simple answer before going hand's on 

  • It makes building mobile games and apps easy.
  • It runs on anything (laptop, desktop, tablet, phone).
  • You can share your code and creations with friends.
  • It’s free!
  • All you need is a browser.
OK!!! How to get started??

It’s easy!

2.Click "Launch TouchDevelop"  .
3.And  Sign-IN.

TouchDevelop can be used to develop games such as “missile defense”, which is a full featured game where cities must be defended against incoming missiles (https://www.touchdevelop.com/zvpj). The script for this sample game can be downloaded to the TouchDevelop application installed on a Windows Phone or directly from the TouchDevelop web application. The user has full access to the script and can modify the game in any way imaginable. If someone has made improvements to the game, the improved game can be shared with others. It is as simple as tapping a button to upload the changed script back to the website. The script will be assigned a different identification tag (replacing the /zvpj letters at the end of the URL). If the author of missile defense publishes an update, TouchDevelop will automatically redirect the user to the latest version of that game. 

If TouchDevelop is to be used for the first time on a Windows Phone, it will need to be installed. To install the app, follow these steps: 

1. Tap the Store tile on the Windows phone. 
2. Press the search icon at the bottom of the screen, and type the text ‘touchdevelop’ into the Store Search text box. Before you finish typing all the letters, the TouchDevelop app should appear as a choice on the screen. 
3. Tap that choice to select it. 
4. Tap Install. 

Note : See https://www.touchdevelop.com/platforms for a complete and up-to-date overview of the different platform capabilities.

Scripting:

As i am also in the process of learning and enjoying TouchDevelop ,I will pause here as there are some awesome resources by Microsoft to help you learn scripting and other good parts of TouchDevelop.

Free Course : MVA - 

CODExist: The Birth of Bot


Free eBook : 

Courtesy : Microsoft Research

Vidyasagar MSC

Developer Advocate, IBM • Microsoft XBox MVP • Intel software Innovator

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