Visual Studio® 2008 ALL-IN-ONE DESK REFERENCE FOR DUMMIES®

Chapter III.8. Building a Mobile Application

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Over the years, computers have insinuated their way into everyday life. Computers are used in machines, from cars to refrigerators. All these computers need some kind of operating system to make them work. Sometimes, a company makes its own, proprietary operating system (OS) to go with a device, such as Palm personal digital assistants (PDAs). Other times, device manufacturers license their operating systems from companies, such as Microsoft.

Microsoft provides several different flavors of operating systems for these devices, such as Windows CE. These versions of Windows, known as smart devices, are found in everything from ATMs and automobiles to cellular phones. Sometimes, these devices are mobile, in the case of cellular phones and PDAs. Other times, they're not, like the CD player or digital video recorder you might have connected to your living room television.

You can use Visual Studio 2008 to build software applications that run on smart devices. Visual Studio 2008 provides everything you need to connect to a smart device and test your application. If you don't have a physical smart device, you can use a device emulator for testing purposes.

As operating systems and hardware have become more robust, mobile devices can now move beyond being mere cell phone and personal information managers (PIMs). More widespread adoption has users clamoring for everything from multimedia applications to business applications.

This chapter ...