Now that we've covered some background information about Esri's technology, let's return to ArcGIS Runtime. ArcGIS Runtime is the first and foremost SDK and an API. It's an SDK that provides you with the tools (Visual Studio templates, samples, and so on) so that you can quickly build apps. It exposes a rich API in the form of objects so that you can satisfy nearly any requirement your app needs. You can simply pick and choose what you need and decide how to implement the required solution. However, before you do that, you really need to know what you expect and the steps required to get started. As you go through the remaining parts of this book, you will be exposed to the SDK and API, which will gradually make you aware of all of the capabilities and options you have to consider to build the high-quality apps.