Book Writing AugmentedReality

So I am Writing A Book on Augmented Reality for Dot Net Developers

If you haven't heard from me as much as normal, there's a good reason for that. I've been busy.

Regular followers of mine may have noticed me mention a book project from time to time. I've been putting off announcing it formally because not all book projects succeed (for a variety of reasons). Though now being 14 chapters in out of 17, I'm happier to start talking about it as the reality of it being one day published becomes more likely.

A while back, inspired by Chris Northwood having written a book about Full Stack Development, I asked him about how he went about writing and publishing his book. He was very forthcoming and helpful and pointed me in the right direction.

Off the back of that guidance, I approached Apress about the possibility of collaborating with them on a book about Augmented Reality on iOS for .NET developers using Xamarin, ARKit, C# and .NET. I never really expected them to think the project was a good idea, even though I did. Looking back, perhaps I underestimated my powers of persuasion, as I made a solid business case.

My pitch for the book mentioned the increasing popularity of Augmented Reality as well as the rich functionality offered by Apples Augmented Reality framework ARKit. That coupled with the growing use of Xamarin for cross platform development by .NET developers. I also pointed out that whilst there were books on ARKit using Swift, Objective-C and XCode there were none written about using ARKit with C#, .NET and VS for Mac, yet according to StackOverflow surveys, there are a great deal more C# developers than Swift & Objective-C developers. I also pointed out that Microsoft's current Augmented Reality offering was via HoloLens, a £3,500 device whereas ARKit will run on modern iPhones of which a LOT of the population already own. It just made sense.

Up until now, I had only been experimenting with ARKit using Xamarin and C# and publishing my findings on a website of mine XamarinArkit.com

One of the reasons that I have undertaken this book project is just the amount of sheer surprise that I have that most .NET developers are unaware that they can use Xamarin to create Augmented Reality experiences for iOS devices using C# and just how amazed I am how simple and rewarding it is. I just feel obliged to educate and tell .NET devs about this.

That is why I have made it my personal mission to broadcast as far and as loud as I can to any .NET developers that will listen that this is possible. Not only possible but easy and amazing. Augmented Reality is coming and I want .NET developers to be ready for it and I suppose that commitment will be one of the contributing factors to me being awarded Microsoft MVP status in September of this year.

It feels like we live in exciting times with the rate of innovation only increasing. It will be those with an innovative mindset and knowledge that will help lead the adoption of technologies such as AI, ML and AR into their businesses and industries.

I've also managed to rope in a fantastic knowledgeable individual in the ARKit and Augmented Reality space to provide technical editing whom I am looking forward to working with as technical review continues.

I already have a list of things as long as my arm that I want to do once I have completed the book. Among other things, I look forward to talking with as many .NET user groups as possible to demonstrate the ease and power of Augmented Reality using ARKit, C# and Xamarin. Having done a few talks on the subject already, I feel bad that I have had to turn down a couple of talk requests this month in order to focus on hitting my writing deadlines.

I'm so excited to be sharing this marvelous technology with fellow .NET developers.