Xamarin in Action

Chapter 2. Hello MVVM—creating a simple cross-platform app using MVVM

This chapter covers

• What MVVM is and why it’s the best choice for cross-platform Xamarin apps
• What the MVVM design pattern is all about, and why you’d want to use it to maximize your cross-platform code
• Getting set up with Xamarin and the MvvmCross extension
• Creating HelloCrossPlatformWorld, your first Xamarin mobile app
• Running your app on iOS and Android

Typically at this point in a book, it’s traditional to build a Hello World app to show off the technology in question. For this book, though, I’m going to go slightly against tradition and start by discussing the MVVM (model-view–view model) design pattern. Then we’ll get our hands dirty with some code toward the end ...