To get the most out of this book

The following are the prerequisites to get the most out of this book:

• Basic familiarity with a modern programming language such as JavaScript. All of the code that we'll write for the Lambdas is based on Node.js.
• Free Tier Amazon AWS Developer account.
• Basic familiarity with code editors.
• Not mandatory, but recommended is an Amazon Alexa-enabled device, such as an Amazon Echo.
• Over the course of this book, we will be making many configuration changes via the Amazon Developer Portal. We recommend that you follow these steps as described, so a good Internet connection is highly recommended.

Download the example code files

You can download the example code files for this book from your account at www.packtpub.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit www.packtpub.com/support and register to have the files emailed directly to you.

You can download the code files by following these steps:

1. Log in or register at www.packtpub.com.
2. Select the SUPPORT tab.
3. Click on Code Downloads & Errata.
4. Enter the name of the book in the Search box and follow the onscreen instructions.

Once the file is downloaded, please make sure that you unzip or extract the folder using the latest version of:

• WinRAR/7-Zip for Windows
• Zipeg/iZip/UnRarX for Mac
• 7-Zip/PeaZip for Linux

The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Alexa-Skills-Projects. In case there's an update to the code, it will be updated on the existing GitHub repository.

We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/AlexaSkillsProjects_ColorImages.pdf.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "On the console search bar, please search for Lambda, and click on it when it appears in the list of auto-suggestions."

A block of code is set as follows:

buildSpeechletResponse = (outputText, shouldEndSession) => {
  return {
    outputSpeech: {
      type: "PlainText",
      text: outputText
    },
    shouldEndSession: shouldEndSession
  }
}

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

generateResponse = (speechletResponse) => {
  return {
    version: "1.0",
    response: speechletResponse
  }
}

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Select System info from the Administration panel."

Warnings or important notes appear like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.