The rapid proliferation of mobile networks for both public use and private has made connectivity-on-the-go a desirable, if not absolutely essential, condition. Nor is this mobility limited to laptops: everywhere you look, people are downloading email and other information directly to their cell phones and PDAs. For developers, this means an increased demand to create applications for mobile devices. Microsoft's .NET Compact Frameworks provides a full suite of powerful tools to help them get the job done. The .NET Compact Framework—a scaled down version of Microsoft's .NET Framework—offers a powerful programming environment for designing rich applications for the Pocket PC or Windows Mobile-based Smartphones. If you're familiar with the .NET Framework, you'll feel right at home in the .NET Compact Framework. You'll find the perfect way to jumpstart your productivity in our new .NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide. As with all of our popular Pocket Guides, this concise book delivers just the information you need without all the fluff. The .Net Compact Framework Pocket Guide provides a brief introduction to the framework and includes several projects to get you up to speed quickly. In this book you'll learn:

• The basics of programming for the .NET Compact Framework using Visual Studio .NET 2003; you'll be up and running with Hello, World in no time at all
• User interface design considerations for the Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Windows Mobile-based Smartphone
• How to consume web services from .NET Compact Framework applications
• How to cache on-line data for use when the mobile device is out of range of a network
• How to write applications that use Bluetooth.

Whether you're new to mobile programming or new to Visual Studio .NET 2003, the .NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide will teach what you need to know to get started developing mobile applications.