A PC in every home, a smartphone in every pocket – billions of people now own a computer, be it in the shape of a smartphone, a tablet, or a PC. Smartphones have become our personal companions, connecting us with the ones with love, storing our personal memories in the form of pictures and videos, playing our music, and managing everything else digital that’s important to us.
The Hour of Code is an initiative to demystify how all of that magic actually works, putting us back into the driving seat. During one week in December, millions of students will get the opportunity to learn how to program computers, write code and create apps. They will become creators and not just consumers of technology.
At Microsoft Research, we believe that anyone can learn to create apps, and that it can be a fun and rewarding experience. We created TouchDevelop, an app to create apps, which turns this idea into reality. You can use TouchDevelop on all modern devices: Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, Android, PCs, Macs, … That’s right: you can create apps with nothing else but your smartphone or your tablet. To help you get started, we’ve built an awesome tutorial experience that will guide you step by step to your very own first app in as little as 10 minutes – even if you have never coded before.
Hour of Code tutorials
TouchDevelop comes with many step-by-step tutorials, and we will be adding even more soon.
We are featuring four tutorials for the Hour of Code, all available at touchdevelop.com/hoc
Join the thousands of people of all ages who have been using these new tutorials in TouchDevelop over the past few weeks. Even if you already know how to create apps with TouchDevelop, go ahead and show your friends how easy it can be! Let them create their own game or app with TouchDevelop.
falling rocks
Are you ready to create your own game? The rules of the game are simple: the monster can move sideways by tilting the device; you lose a life when hitting a falling rock or the walls. Good luck!
This is a great tutorial if you are working on a mobile device that has an accelerometer – the game uses this sensor detect if you tilt your phone or tablet, and then the figure on the screen will move accordingly.
love me not
Are you ready to build a love, love me not app? When you tap on a petal, it floats down and a random love sentences flies up.
monster slicer
Are you ready to create your own game? In this tutorial, you will learn how to build an awesome game where you have to tap a monster (or a flower) to prevent it from bouncing off the bottom!
turtle drawings
Are you ready to create an app? In this tutorial, you will create crazy drawings by controlling a turtle.
educator notes
If you are a teacher, or want to organize a coding event, check out our educator notes– a recipe to run an awesome Hour Of Code event with TouchDevelop!
create your own tutorials
It’s really easy for you to create your own tutorials! All you really have to do is to come up a goal script, and then our tutorial engine will guide the user step-by-step to re-create the code. Learn more…
stay in touch
Like TouchDevelop on Facebook to stay up to date.