Coding4Fun

Preface

Software development can take many forms. For many professional developers, this often involves the drudgery of implementing applications that query databases or build extensive reports. For students or hobbyists, software creation may take the form of simple exercises that return mundane sorted lists or draw a few images to the screen.

However, no matter what your skill level or career, building computer software can be a lot more entertaining and, at the same time, educational. Instead of dropping controls on forms and retrieving a customer's order, why not create a video game or drive a remote-controlled car using a Nintendo Wii Remote?

This is the whole concept behind Coding4Fun: building software that does fun and interesting things with your computer. In this book, we will take you through 10 different projects that, at the end, will give you something fun to play with, and something cool to impress your friends and family with. Here you will find full-on tutorials, diagrams, code snippets, photos, and everything you need to have fun with software development, and learn a few things in the process.

Do you want to interface your computer to external hardware and unique input devices? We have you covered. Do you want to build a video game that runs on your computer, Xbox 360, and Zune? You'll find it here. Do you want to use some of the popular social networking sites, such as YouTube and Twitter, in new and interesting ways? Keep reading. Want to query a database for your ...