Learning Android Development

#1 Romeo29

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Posted 31 January 2012 - 12:56 AM

Hi,

I am thinking of learning Android applications development.
Where do I start ?
I have joined a short term course at a local university but the instructor seems slow and clueless. He is trying to teach Java

Thanks

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#2 groovicus

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Posted 31 January 2012 - 11:48 AM

Because Java is what most developers use to write apps for the Android. AFAIK, their SDK is built with Java. You might want to try here: http://developer.android.com/index.html

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#3 kisk

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Posted 09 April 2012 - 01:46 PM

The Eclipse IDE + Java is what you'll be using (ideally) for Android dev.

Lynda and O'Reilly both have video courses you can purchase if interested in something other than a read

#4 harasho

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Posted 09 April 2012 - 10:49 PM

Hey! I am currently a Junior in a university studying computer science. I have taken Java and I am currently writing an android app for my class. Google is your best friend ever. Contrary to what you believe, your Java class will not help as much as you might hope. Yes, android is based in Java but they use their own instruction set. Most of the programming I have encountered deals with this instruction set. Also, xml is a language used for the GUI of android. I started out learning android through Google's own tutorials. They will show you the basics. Although they aren't all that good, they will point you in the right direction.

I do not mean to discourage you from your Java class, Java is a great language and certainly will aid you in programming for android. And yes, intro classes in programming go incredibly slow

.

My suggestions would be to research and start small. Start with making a button, or making a tab. Understand the android lingo so you can more accurately search your problem or your idea. Things like activities and basic computing. Try making a calculator or something.

Another amazing thing to do would be to look for some open source android apps. Free members of github are required to open up their code, as well as code.google.com. tweak and learn from other's completed work.