Xamarin Introduction

What is Xamarin

Xamarin brings open source .NET to mobile development, enabling every developer to build truly native apps for any device in C# and F#.

Why Xamarin

Mobile apps are becoming an essential part of businesses. Today, if you want to target Apple iOS, Google Android, and Microsoft Windows smartphones to provide native apps, you will have to build three different types of apps. Typically, Apple iOS apps are developed using Objective-C or Swift programming languages. Android apps are developed using Java and Android SDK. Windows apps are developed using Microsoft Windows Phone/Mobile or UWP. For a business, having three different kinds of skilled team and maintain three different kinds of source code is not only a major headache but becomes a costly affair.

This is where Xamarin steps in. Using Xamarin, you could build your app using a single programming language, C# or F# using .NET Framework. The same code can be transport into native iOS, Android, and Windows binaries.

About this series

In this series, you will learn basics of Xamarin and why you should be using Xamarin to build your apps and its advantages.

Prerequisites

Xamarin uses your existing C# or F# and .NET skills. Before you learn Xamarin, you should have basic understanding of C# or F# language and .NET framework.

If you’re not familiar with C# language, here is a list of recommended readings:

Programming C# for Beginners