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March 15, 2013
Windows Phone Developer Blog

Build Apps for Both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8

This blog post was authored by Ben Riga, a Technical Evangelist on the Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism team.  You can find out more about Ben at http://about.me/ben.riga.

– Larry


It’s no secret that we built Windows Phone 8 on a shared Windows RT core operating system. More importantly from a developer perspective, we also went a long way toward converging Windows Phone 8 APIs with Windows 8.  We’ve put together some new developer content to help you build apps that run on both platforms while maximizing the amount of code reuse between the two platforms.

In the new “Build For Both” video series we begin by comparing and contrasting Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 with an eye toward illustrating how to maximize the amount of code you reuse when building apps for both platforms. Then we provide an overview of data binding and view models, which sets the scene perfectly for an introductory video on using the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern to promote separation of concerns and the use of modularity in your apps.  Finally, we pull it all together with a session that highlights various tips and best practices, including info about using portable class libraries, sharing source code, class inheritance, conditional compilation, and partial classes and methods.  By learning how to use these techniques, you’ll be better equipped to design your apps to share the maximum amount of code between your Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 projects.

You can view this course at Microsoft Virtual Academy or on Channel 9: