After a month odd of preparation, we finally pulled it off – a Windows Phone 7 Developers’ session right here in our campus: Singapore Polytechnic.

We had a huge list of sign ups, so we changed our plans and split the originally planned single session into two concurrent sessions. Out of the 60+ registrations, 30 turned up for the event. The participants were then split up such that each room engaged only 15 participants.

We first started off with an introduction to Windows Phone 7 and important things a developer should know such that they can write codes to better take advantage of the device’s capabilities. A demonstration of a physical prototype running the new mobile OS certainly got everybody’s attention!

 

After everyone has a fair bit of understanding of what the new phone OS can do, we got down to the focus of the day – programming!

We started with how to create a Windows Phone 7 Silverlight project, and we went deep down into topics such as how Project Nimbus can aid developers with its services and data sets.

We then demonstrated three sample apps step-by-step. These apps comprise of the following:

• SG NRIC Checker
• Search for Tweets by Username
• Bing Maps Reverse Geo Code

Finally, the call of action of the day – a code-a-thon competition! Participants were given an hour’s time to code a simple app for Windows Phone 7. During the process we engaged the audience using our Facebook page and generated much activity and awareness for our cause.

 

 

The day ended with prize-giving for winners of the competition. A total of 6 Microsoft wireless mice were awarded to a total of 2 teams. It was a really great day and all participants walked off knowing something more than they did when they entered the rooms in the morning.

-Steven Ryan, Microsoft Student Partner Lead, Singapore Polytechnic

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