Platform Development Tools
Platform Builder for CE 6.0 (a plug-in for Visual Studio 2005) is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building customized embedded operating system designs. Platform Builder comes with all of the development tools needed to design, create, build, test, and debug your project.
The integrated ARM based Emulator helps you easily to test your CE image without having a hardware platform.
Application Development Tools
To write applications for CE 6.0, Microsoft offers a familiar set of programming languages that use managed or unmanaged code. Visual Studio 2005 takes full advantage of the .NET Compact Framework, which uses public Internet standards to enable integration with new and existing applications running on any platform. Supported languages include Visual C++, Visual C#, and Visual Basic.
Windows CE Development Process
We can divide between the device OS development and the application development. To start with the device development, you need a BSP (Board Support Package) from a board manufacturer or start with a built in standard BSP. All needed drivers, configurations and settings are stored in the BSP. The more complete a BSP is, the less work you have to do! You can test your image via the device emulator. Don't forget to choose the emulator BSP as well in your project. After you have finished the OS design, you can export a SDK (Software Developmet Kit). The SDK contains the API-Set (Programmer Interface) supported through your CE Image. An application developer can now install this SDK to write applications for your CE Image and test it as well on the emulator first.