Where to start your journey (development for wp and win)?

Question

Windows phone

Hello. I decided to start learning how to write for both smartphones (for starters) and tablets (in the future. I chose a bunch of C # / XAML. When I started looking for literature, videos, etc. on this topic, I ran into the problem of choosing a version ( wp 7, wp 7.5, wp 8, wp 8.1), as far as I understand, what is supported in one version is not supported in another. It also puts UWP in a stupor. I don’t understand much about this, so my head is already boiling. choose?" and "Which version of the SDK should I download?"

Answer 1

What to choose?

Another platform. Seriously. As a WP developer, I responsibly declare that there are very few vacancies in this area, especially in the Russian market.
If you want C# and mobile phones, learn Xamarin.
If you want C # and games (including mobile ones) - Unity.
If you want C # without mobile phones and games - ASP.NET and Enterprise direction.
On all three counts, specialists are in demand.
If you still want to develop for WP, then 8.1 is the only relevant mobile version.
UWP - allows you to create applications for different platforms (phones, desktops, xbox, etc.) with a single code, that is, significantly reduce development time.
But don't get caught up in this mess just yet. Start by learning basic C# syntax. Good books are in abundance. Most advise Richter's "CLR via C#". As soon as you are more or less familiar with the language itself (without a graphical interface, just a console), choose one of the above directions and study the required technology stack.

Answer 2

Written under WP7 (I don’t remember the exact version of 7k) works on 8k, but 7k itself is almost completely dead, even native Microsoft Skype stopped working on it