Alexa Essential Training (Updated Feb 2019)

Use Alexa CLI & SDK v2 to build several complete Alexa games & business skills from scratch. (No Device needed)

What you'll learn
Develop Alexa skills using Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) and publish skills to Alexa Skill Store
Create Skills using Account linking feature of Alexa Skills Kit, so that you can link Alexa user with use in your system
Learn how to access external APIs from your Alexa Skills
Learn how to setup your local environment and AWS CLI, so that you can automate the process of uploading Alexa Skills from your local machine Learn how to use FLASK-ASK framework to develop Alexa Skills
Develop Alexa Skills using AWS Lambda function or Web Service as an end point
Learn how to access external database like AWS DynamoDB from your Alexa Skill to store per user information
Learn how to carry out dialogs with users.
Master how to create Custom Skills as well as Flash Briefing Skills
Learn about Interaction models, dialogs, intents, slots and perform validation on user input
Learn Alexa's Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML)
Learn how to create multi-lingual & internationalized skills
Requirements
Basic knowledge of Javascript & NodeJs
Description
*** You do not need an Alexa Device to take this course and build skills. Happy Learning :) ***Alexa is taking over the world. It started with speakers, then phones, digital displays, refrigerators, bulbs, televisions and even cars.  Within just 2 years; more than 25000 skills were added to the  Alexa Store. It is predicted that by 2020 more than 100 million households will own an alexa powered device. It's no wonder that companies are investing heavily in incorporating Alexa into their products. If they have a IOS or Android app, they now also want to publish an Alexa app.Hence Alexa developers are in high demand. The earlier you jump in and gain seniority, the better your career prospects are.This course is an in-depth tutorial on Alexa development. We utilize Javascript as our primary development language. We cover the following topics:What is Alexa and the current trends in Alexa skill developmentVoice User Interface DesignLearn how to carry out multi-turn conversations and dialogs with customerHow to setup a development environment in AlexaUsing AWS Lambda for Alexa skills developmentUsing express-NodeJs for Alexa skills developmentUnderstanding voice interaction modelLearning how to use the Latest Alexa development tools like the "Skill Builder" and "Testing Simulator"Develop skills using ASK CLI and ASK SDK v2Develop several complete games & business skills from scratchand much moreThe goal of this course is to make you an expert in the topic of Alexa development. 

Overview

Section 1: Section I - Introduction

Lecture 1 Course Structure

Lecture 2 Should you learn Alexa development ?

Lecture 3 How Alexa works ?

Lecture 4 Alexa devices

Lecture 5 How users interact with Alexa ?

Lecture 6 The Alexa Store

Lecture 7 Sign up

Lecture 8 About the author

Section 2: Voice User Interface Design (VUI)

Lecture 9 What is Voice User Interface Design ?

Lecture 10 What do users expect from Voice Interaction ?

Lecture 11 Principle #1: Don't Rely on Screens

Lecture 12 Principle #2: Object Permanence

Lecture 13 Principle #3: Cognitive Load

Lecture 14 Principle #4: Have a Clear Objective

Lecture 15 Principle #5: The X-Factor

Lecture 16 Principle #6: Design for Natural Language Conversation

Lecture 17 Principle #7: Think of Variations

Lecture 18 Applying the Principles: Buying a car VUI Design

Section 3: Development Environment Setup - Alexa with AWS Lambda

Lecture 19 Important Links

Lecture 20 Setup Notes

Lecture 21 Development Environment Setup

Lecture 22 Create a New Skill - I

Lecture 23 Create a New Skill - II

Lecture 24 Invocation name

Lecture 25 New Intent

Lecture 26 New AWS Lambda Function

Lecture 27 Coding Business Logic in Lambda Function

Lecture 28 Linking Lambda Function to Skill

Lecture 29 Testing

Lecture 30 Types of Skills

Lecture 31 Break and feedback

Section 4: Alexa's Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML)

Lecture 32 Important Notes

Lecture 33 SSML - Introduction

Lecture 34 SSML - examples

Lecture 35 SSML - Reference Link

Lecture 36 Displaying Cards

Section 5: Sessions in Alexa Skills

Lecture 37 Handling Intents

Lecture 38 ShouldEndSession - I

Lecture 39 ShouldEndSession - II

Lecture 40 When do sessions end ?

Lecture 41 Attributes in Session object

Lecture 42 Attributes in Session object - continued

Lecture 43 Summary

Section 6: The Built-in Intents - AMAZON.HelpIntent, AMAZON.CancelIntent, AMAZON.StopIntent

Lecture 44 Handling built-in intents

Lecture 45 Recap

Section 7: First Skill - Plan My Trip using Web Service as Endpoint

Lecture 46 Introduction

Lecture 47 Source Code

Lecture 48 The Interaction Model

Lecture 49 Setting up the Endpoint

Lecture 50 Handling LaunchRequest

Lecture 51 Intent processing - I

Lecture 52 Intent processing - II

Lecture 53 Intent processing - III

Lecture 54 Intent processing - IV

Lecture 55 Intent processing - V

Lecture 56 Testing

Lecture 57 Using the New Testing Simulator

Lecture 58 Handling StopIntent

Lecture 59 The CancelIntent & HelpIntent

Lecture 60 Skill Invocation name testing

Lecture 61 Testing Utterances

Lecture 62 Slot validation - I

Lecture 63 Slot validation - II

Lecture 64 Prepopulating Slot values

Lecture 65 Congratulations!!

Section 8: Second Skill using Alexa SDK v1

Lecture 66 Introduction

Lecture 67 Links

Lecture 68 Setting up the Lambda Function

Lecture 69 Launch Request

Lecture 70 Reprompt Text

Lecture 71 Handling Built-in Intents

Lecture 72 PlanMyTrip Intent

Lecture 73 Source code

Lecture 74 Conclusion

Section 9: Third Skill - High Low Game - using Alexa SDK v1

Lecture 75 Introduction

Lecture 76 Important instructions

Lecture 77 Initial Setup

Lecture 78 New Session

Lecture 79 Stop and Cancel Intents

Lecture 80 Introducing States

Lecture 81 State based Routing

Lecture 82 The Guessing State

Lecture 83 Guessing State continued

Lecture 84 Closing notes

Section 10: Miscellaneous tasks using SDK v1

Lecture 85 Displaying cards using Alexa sdk v1

Lecture 86 Beta Testing Facility

Section 11: Linking to Third-Party Services

Lecture 87 Basics

Lecture 88 Linking to Google Account

Section 12: Flash Briefing Skills - Let's how to distribute news

Lecture 89 Introduction

Lecture 90 Source Code

Lecture 91 Coding the Endpoint

Lecture 92 Endpoint linking & Testing

Lecture 93 Integrating Flash Skill with API Gateway

Lecture 94 Links to documentation

Section 13: Alexa Skill Kit "CLI" and "Skill Development Kit" version 2 (SDK v2

Lecture 95 Introduction

Lecture 96 Environment Setup

Lecture 97 Create a Skill using ASK CLI and ASK SDK v2

Lecture 98 Manifest File

Lecture 99 Hello World Skill - using SDK v2 - lesson 1

Lecture 100 Hello World Skill - lesson 2

Lecture 101 Hello World Skill - lesson 3

Lecture 102 Hello World Skill - lesson 4

Lecture 103 Hello World Skill - lesson 5

Lecture 104 Hello World Skill - lesson 6

Lecture 105 Hello World Skill - lesson 7

Lecture 106 BaseSkillBuilder, CustomerSkillBuilder & StandardSkillBuilder Interfaces

Lecture 107 HandlerInput overview

Lecture 108 Documentation

Lecture 109 Conclusion

Lecture 110 Let's take a tiny break :)

Section 14: Fifth Skill - Plan My Trip - using Alexa SDK v2

Lecture 111 Introduction

Lecture 112 Source code for this section

Lecture 113 Using Ask to create the Skill

Lecture 114 Coding the intents

Lecture 115 Finishing the code

Lecture 116 Conclusion

Section 15: Sixth Skill - High Low Game - with Alexa SDK v2

Lecture 117 Introduction

Lecture 118 Setup & Testing

Lecture 119 Important Links

Lecture 120 LaunchRequest

Lecture 121 AMAZON.YesIntent

Lecture 122 AMAZON.NoIntent

Lecture 123 NumberGuessIntent

Lecture 124 What's the context ?

Lecture 125 Incorporating context

Lecture 126 Bug Fixing

Lecture 127 Storing & Retrieving data from DynamoDB

Lecture 128 Finishing Touches: Stop and Cancel Intents

Lecture 129 SDKv2 + DynamoDB Recap

Lecture 130 Section Conclusion

Section 16: Comprehensive Tutorial on Interceptors + Attributes Management using SDK v2

Lecture 131 Introduction

Lecture 132 Request Interceptors

Lecture 133 Response Interceptors

Lecture 134 Managing Attributes

Section 17: Seventh Skill - Learn Internationalization using SDK v2

Lecture 135 Introduction

Lecture 136 Source Code for next lesson

Lecture 137 Basics on the i18next library

Lecture 138 Project Setup

Lecture 139 Adding Languages

Lecture 140 Adding VUIs for India & Mexico

Lecture 141 Source code for next lesson

Lecture 142 Integrating i18next with SDK v2

Lecture 143 Conclusion

Section 18: Obtaining Device location for your skill

Lecture 144 Code Reference

Lecture 145 Obtaining device location using SDK v2

Lecture 146 Conclusion

Section 19: The End

Lecture 147 The End

Amazon Alexa Developers,Web developers,Javascript programmers,Android & IOS programmers,programmers