Develop for Windows Phone, with Windows Phone... TouchDevelop

Today's Mobile Monday post shows off a project that's kind of meta, programming for the phone, on the phone...

Think you need a PC to develop for Windows Phone? Think it would be cool to take your development environment on the road, so you can code where ever you are? Like easily share your work with others? Would you like to reach out and touch your code?...

touchdevelop

Write fun programs on your phone and share them with other people! Download for free for Windows Phone 7.

info

Program your phone directly on your phone with TouchDevelop! You do not need a separate PC. Scripts can perform various tasks similar to regular apps. Any TouchDevelop user can install, run, edit, and publish scripts. You can share your scripts with other people by publishing them.

videos

getting started: Watch this getting started video to see how you can program your phone with TouchDevelop.

more about editing code:declare a local variable, select a particular statement, extract expression, extract statement, navigate between statements, action parameters and results, promote local to global variable, how to sum values in a loop

in the classroom: TouchDevelop Excites Students — Ninety eighth-grade students at Mill Creek Middle School in Kent, Washington, learned how to write smartphone programs with TouchDevelop...

meet a script author: Peter Heldens, a manager at Microsoft University in the Netherlands, recently visited the touchDevelop team. Peter wrote My Online Meetings, the popular script that allows users to join a conference call.

There's also a free book/PDF available too...

This book contains an introduction to the idea of programming on a phone, illustrating in depth everything one needs to know to get started with the TouchDevelop app and the TouchDevelop language. The book is comprehensive in its treatment of the language, and follows a logical structure from simple constructs to more advanced ones. The aim of the book is twofold: It tells a teacher everything there is to know about the new programming paradigm, and it serves well as a reference to students who are learning the system.

There's a broad scope of programs you can create with TouchDevelop, from the silly, to games, to even "business" apps.

For example, here's a script that ties into the Lync client

my Lync calls

Connect to Today's ConfCall with a Single Tap. This version leverages the Microsoft Lync 2010 Client (Call Back)

meta version "v2.2";
meta name "my Lync calls";
meta icon "phone";
meta color "#ffb7410e";
// Connect to Today's ConfCall with a Single Tap. This version leverages the Microsoft Lync 2010 Client (Call Back)

action My_Lync_Calls() {
  // This program parses your calender for conference calls and dials them on request including ConferenceIDs
  data→release := "1.1a for Lync";
  data→nextdays := 0;
  data→meetings := 0;
  $advanced := true;
  // Init dial conference hub
  if data→dialin→is_empty then {
    code→setDialin;
  }
  $sDialin := data→dialin;
  $sDialin := data→dialin;
  // Init LeaderName
  if data→sLeaderName→is_empty then {
    code→setLeader;
  }
  $sLeaderName := data→sLeaderName;
  // Init PIN
  if data→sPIN→is_empty then {
    code→setPIN;
  }
  $sPIN := data→sPIN;
  $s := time→today→add_days(0);
  $e := time→tomorrow→add_days(data→nextdays);
  $sID, $sLeader, $sLync := code→getConfCalls($s, $e);
  code→setTile;
  if $sID→equals("") then {
    skip;
  }
  else {
    $r := code→getDialString($sDialin, $sID, $sLeader, $sPIN, $advanced);
    if $r→contains("@") then {
      code→setDialin;
      if $advanced then {
        code→setLeader;
        code→setPIN;
      }
      code→My_Lync_Calls;
    }
    else {
      wall→clear;
      $b := wall→ask_boolean("Connect Using Microsoft Lync 2010 Client?", "YES=call back, NO=direct dialin");
      code→showDTMFControls;
      if not $b then {
        phone→dial_phone_number($r);
      }
      else {
        code→dialinLync($sLync);
      }
    }
  }
  "\n\n" →post_to_wall;
}...

Here's a snap of just some of the things created with TouchDevelop

Also every TouchDevelop app/script include its source, so you can learn and build on what others have done.

If you feel like half-a-dev when you don't have a coding environment open in front of you, if you have separation anxiety when you leave your IDE, or you just dig the idea of creating apps for your Windows Phone on your Windows Phone, then TouchDevelop is just a free download away...