In this chapter, you will learn how to create voice user interfaces using the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), which is necessary to deploy an application to an Amazon Echo device. In order to learn about programming in ASK, you will create a cooking application that teaches the user how to cook a dish step by step. First, you will set up an Amazon Echo and then familiarize yourself with the ASK software development kit. Once comfortable with ASK, you will utilize intents, utterances, and slots in ASK to create the conversations necessary for the cooking application. Then, using Node.js, you will create a Webhook that will provide recipe ideas. Next, you will learn how to debug and test conversations and then deploy Henry's Kitchen to Amazon Echo for further testing. Finally, you will finish this chapter by learning how to back up the Alexa skill you have created so that you can restore the skill if things go wrong.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- An introduction to the ASK SDK
- The ASK development setup
- Learning about intents, utterances, and slots
- Implementing a Node.js Webhook to serve Alexa skills
- Learning how to set up an Amazon Echo
- Programming, debugging, and testing in the ASK
- Deploying and testing using Amazon Echo
- Backing up an Alexa skill