You may like the idea of creating your own app, but if you don’t have the necessary coding skills how do you get started? TouchDevelop is an app that already exists for a number of platforms including Windows Phone and iOS, but Microsoft has now branched out and released a version for Android as well.
The idea is to make app creation accessible to a wider audience and what could be easier than doing it from your phone or tablet? TouchDevelop does not allow for the creation of standalone Android apps, but instead makes it possible to create web apps with relative ease.
It is, however, possible to create apps for Windows and Windows Phone, and there is the option of submitting your creations to the relevant stores. In spite of the ease with which apps and games can be created, it is possible to take full advantage of handset sensors such as the accelerometer.
Despite the fact that this is a tool for Android, there is a strong Windows Phone look to it which can feel a little out of place!
For anyone taking their first steps with app creation, there are plenty of tutorials to check out, and there are plenty of samples from other users that you can browse through to get a few ideas. It many cases it is possible to view the background code for apps and games so you can work backwards and determine how to achieve different things.
Once you get more adept with the app, you can start saving code snippets in a library so they can be reused in future projects.
Let us know what you manage to come up with — we’d love to see your apps!
