Here's an overview to Xamarin in the form of questions. Let's start with what is Xamarin:
What is Xamarin?
Basically
Xamarin is a tool for developing cross platform applications in C#. Sometimes you want to create an application in Android and you don't know Java. The only thing you know is C#, then it's time to shift to the Xamarin platform. Xamarin provides complete cross platform availability. If you want to target the Android and iOS applications and you only know Windows phone development then there are two options. First, you'll hire a big team of developers that can built native applications for different platforms and the second is to install Xamarin studio and target different platforms.
What will you require?
If you are a visual studio lover and love Microsoft technologies and you've a DreamSpark account then download the Xamarin studio with 1 year of membership. However if you don't have a DreamSpark account then don't worry because Xamarin give you a 30 day trial. So it's time to start developing some native applications in Xamarin studio and publish it in different app stores like Google Play or Apple app store.
Microsoft has decided to acquire the Xamarin studio. If Microsoft succeeds in its plan then C# developers directly interact with the Xamarin studio. Microsoft will handle all its updates and maybe you don't need to pay a heavy amount for Xamarin. So in short if you want to target cross platform applications then Xamarin is a good platform for you. Simply go and find your Xamarin now and trying to start developing some native applications.
How do you test your cross platform application?
Many people think that they need some physical device other than laptops and desktops PCs. No not at all. The only thing you need is your own laptop or PC with visual studio 2015 OR Xamarin studio. If you want to test your application then Xamarin Android player is the best tool for you if your laptops have 4 GBs of RAM . However if you have a laptop with 6-8Gbs of RAM then you can't believe that Microsoft has developed an Android emulator for testing Android applications.
If there are lot of Android emulators on the market then why choose Microsoft Emulator?
The good thing is that it's much faster as compared to other emulators. Its speed is approximately equal to the device speed. Its outer layout is just like Visual studio emulator with an awesome accelerometer, Camera Sensor and GPS location tracker etc.
Stay connected with my articles. If you're interested in the development of cross platform applicatios then future articles will help you a lot, until then install Xamarin in your systems and improve your C# concepts.