Two-Part Series: Intro to Xamarin Forms and The Algorand Blockchain

We are thrilled to have Russ Fustino as our guest speaker. Russ heads up Mobile Application Dev Tampa. Russ has enlightened, entertained and educated over 1 million developers in his career and is a recipient of the INETA Lifetime Achievement award.

Part 1 (6 – 7pm)
Intro to Xamarin Forms

In this day and age, you need apps for all of the platforms: Android, iOS, Windows. In this session we talk about Xamarin and Xamarin Forms. Xamarin is the underlying platform that can provide about 80 percent code sharing. Xamarin Forms sits on top of the Xamarin platform and it also shares the user interface layer. Xamarin Forms apps typically provide 95 percent shared code. Let’s say I am building a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app with Xamarin Forms. When I am done with the UWP app… so will be the iOS and Android versions! No need to have three different skill sets and three sets of code from different languages. Just one skill set is needed… Xamarin Forms using C#. “Anything you can to in Objective-C and Java can be done with Xamarin”. That’s quite a message, isn’t it? It drove me to do a deep dive learning experience on Xamarin and get my Xamarin certification, that is for certain. This session will cover Installing Visual Studio and Xamarin plugins, creating a cross platform app from scratch with ListView, Images, Tablet and phone form factors, StackLayout, Grid Layouts and more.

Part 2 (7 – 8:30pm)
The Algorand Blockchain - Decentralized and for Developers

Algorand is a new blockchain built on a Permissionless, pure proof of stake, decentralized agreement protocol, where anyone can participate and requires minimal computational power. This protocol finalizes transactions very quickly and offers true decentralization. For developers the Algorand blockchain provides JavaScript, Java, and Go SDKs. Additionally REST endpoints are provided for interacting with the nodes and handling wallet functions. These REST endpoints are based on the OpenAPI Specification and can be used to build clients in any language. In this talk, Russ will cover the basics of how the Algorand protocol works, cover the architecture overview, managing the node with the command line tools, and show developers how to integrate using the SDKs to build Layer 2 applications.

About our Guest Speaker:
Russ is an Algorand Technical Evangelist and CEO of Fustino Brothers, Inc, makers of the Endorsed Jethro Tull App, and a Microsoft MVP (Reconnect) in App Development. In addition to being a former Developer Evangelist for Microsoft, he has also been one for Russ’ ToolShed, Xamarin, Raygun, Wowza & ComponentOne. Russ is a former Azure Senior Cloud Solutions Architect for Opsgility and Windows Developer for Directorpoint. He is highly experienced in developing cross platform apps using Xamarin and C# for UWP, Android and iOS. Russ is a Xamarin Certified Mobile Developer software developer and author of the book “Azure and Xamarin Forms” published by Apress. He has a passion for conveying relevant, current, and future software development technologies and tools through live seminars, teaching, and internet video productions. Russ heads up a user group in the Tampa Florida area: Mobile Application Dev Tampa. Russ is also the local PC Handyman for his community, fixing virus problems and providing tune-ups for his neighborhood and helping folks that have been scammed on their PC. On Twitter follow @RussFustino to keep tabs on him.