I have to admit that our Windows Mobile devices are much smaller than desktop computers. I also have to admit that our processing power and available memory are probably a joke to desktop developers. At the same time, that is the beauty and challenge to still create wonderful applications for those devices. Especially if you take a look at managed application development, we are not that different from desktop developers. We are using the same development tools and the same development environment. The only thing that differs is that we are using a subset of the .NET Framework, being the .NET Compact Framework. We have a little less functionality available inside the .NET Compact Framework, we also have fewer User Interface Controls available, and sometimes we might try to allocate some memory or instantiate a new class, resulting in out of memory problems. But hey, we do have a lot in common with desktop developers. You can develop Windows Mobile applications in managed using Visual Studio 2008, written in either C# or Visual Basic.NET. Both of these languages are available in their latest version to device developers, with exactly the same features that desktop developers have. The only difference is in the framework we are targeting. The latest version of the .NET Compact Framework (version 3.5) is of course still a subset of the full .NET Framework. Having said that, it is incredible to see so much functionality available in a footprint of just a little over 2 Mbytes. Visual Studio 2008 brought us Unit Testing for Devices, we have LINQ to objects and LINQ to XML available and some great diagnostic tools like the CLR Profiler and Remote Performance Monitor. Moving away from the desktop, we even have a great number of managed API’s available around Windows Mobile device specific functionality, like easy access in managed code to Pocket Outlook, the ability to monitor device states using State & Notification Broker and much more functionality. Of course there are a few things that I really like for us to have as well, for instance, I would love to see code coverage date being made available as part of running unit tests for device applications as well. But overall, I am very, very happy with the tools that Microsoft provides us to develop applications for Windows Mobile devices. Even better, Windows Mobile Device developers know how to deal with low memory situations, they write efficient code to make sure to use as little battery power as necessary and they know how to create effective User Interfaces, even for different form factors and screen orientations. It is my bet that experienced Windows Mobile developers would make excellent desktop developers as well, which is not necessarily true the other way around. If you have not done so, make sure to take a look at the possibilities to create applications for Windows Mobile devices using Visual Studio. You will be pleased with the development tools, so there are no real excuses. Just start developing those cool killer applications for the Windows Mobile platform.  

Maarten Struys