Jim Bennett - Xamarin in Action: Creating native cross-platform mobile apps

When Jim told me he was writing a book on Xamarin that was focusing on architecture, design, testing, and best practices, I could not have been more excited. I knew he was the perfect author for this style of book. The very first time I interacted with Jim, we were both creating C# bindings around Bluetooth beacon libraries for iOS and Android. I knew right away we would become great friends, and Im glad hes joined Microsoft as one of our Developer Advocates to continue all of the great work he was doing in the community.

Xamarin in Action is a resource that I wish Id had by my side when I was starting native cross-platform mobile development with Xamarin. This book walks you through the key fundamentals of what Xamarin is and how the technology works in Visual Studio, but it also guides you through best practices on building production-quality mobile applications. From design to architecture to deployment, by the end of this book youll have a full grasp of mobile development with Xamarin and youll surely have fallen in love with it just as much as I have.

When Jim asked me if I would write a foreword for his book, and I started to read the chapters, it brought me back to when I discovered Xamarin for the first time. This may be where you are right now, getting ready to start your mobile development career. I could think of no better way to introduce Xamarin in Action than by sharing my Xamarin journey with you.

I can vividly remember the moment that made me want to become a mobile developer, changing my life forever. It was the fall of 2010, and I was attending my first developer conference, the Professional Developers Conference in Redmond, Washington, at Microsoft headquarters. While there, I was introduced to Azure, the future of cloud computing, and was handed my first smartphone. This tiny supercomputer not only fit into my pocket, but also enabled me to craft full-blown applications in C# from Visual Studio that I could ship to people around the globe. It blew my mind. In that instant, I knew I was done writing printer software and needed to move to Seattle to be closer to the action.

Before I knew it, Id accepted a job at a small startup, moved my life across the country, and started my role as the sole mobile developer. On my first day, I was tasked with creating native iOS, Android, and Windows applications in only two months. I remember immediately freezing up, as I tried to figure out what Id gotten myself into, and how I was going to accomplish this as a C# developer who didnt know Objective-C or Java. I knew I would have to find a cross-platform framework if I was going to be successful, and that it would need to integrate into my existing development workflow and tools and, of course, be powered by C#. This was when I discovered the Xamarin platform. I didnt waste any time in downloading the tools and started crafting my first native iOS and Android apps in C# and Visual Studio!

From my very first File > New experience, I was in love with Xamarin. It gave me everything I could ask for in a platform, including native performance, access to every single native API in C#, and a full native user interface that I could craft right from Visual Studio. Xamarin truly made building cross-platform native apps fast, easy, and fun, and I never looked back. After successfully shipping those initial apps in just a few months (and several more over the next few years), I was so in love with Xamarin that I accepted a job with the company as a developer advocate, so I could focus all my energy on helping developers around the world transform their careers with the power of Xamarin.

Its not hyperbole when I say that I absolutely love this technology and know that it can transform your business to be more productive and agile when crafting mobile applications. It even has the power to change your entire career. Im living proof.

J AMES M ONTEMAGNO
Principal Program Manager, Mobile Developer Tools, Microsoft