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Hi all,
I created this thread to collect informations, suggestions and links for who want to start learning developing android applications, whitout being an expert developer.
I like programming (vb6, vb.net ) but I don't know anything about android and linux, and just a little about java... Now I bought an Hero and I met android world... I downladed Eclipse IDE, Android SDK and I starded with dev guide on SDK... I just take a look to helloandorid application... it works! and now? In the xml layout seems easy to add View like buttons or text... but how can I handle to the user actions like the button click? in vb is simple to manage the buttonpressed event...!
If someone knows some simple guides about java, eclipse and android, please let links on this thread!
Thank you!
This one's awesome for learning how to create widgets:
http://nm-blog.sanid.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/android_howto-hellowidget.pdf
here are some other resources you could easily find by using google search:
http://www.helloandroid.com/tutorials
http://nexsoftware.net/wp/2009/07/29/tutorial-creating-a-custom-analogclock-widget/
http://www.anddev.org/index.php
Other than that, just start from the simplest Hello World -examples on Google's own Android site.
I'm going to start leurning Android programming
If ill find nice links i will post them here. Is there btw a way to program inside visual studio? Cuz all tutorials on the net are using eclipse.
You'll need to use Eclipse to my knowledge as its all Java based. The other alternatives are the IntelliJ plugin and doing it all from Command line/Text Editor.
Back to the Topic, I'm just trying my hand at a little Android development this week too, the tutorials and manuals at developer.android.com have been great!
Another thing, while I remember, if you've done any sort of .NET/ASP.NET development before you should find it a breeze, apart from the lack of Visual Studio (best IDE that ever was), they're VERY similar compared to some other languages/technologies I've used.
HeY Furios, Im new to android dev also, so if you don't mind, I would like to follow you and share any info I find with you and to whom ever else would like any info...Thanx
SDK 2.1
Hi Guys,
I went onto the SE developer site and got he x10 SDK, but it only gives me the choice for a 1.6 virtual Machine. Is there another place that I have to go to get the SDK for 2.1?
Thanks.
It would be cool to learn how to develop roms as well...or is that much deeper?
Well guy's start here on this thread first >>>http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667298
Made me think
need minor help!
im actually developing a few games, but im running into some seemingly basic issues, that i seem i cannot get to work. basically a button mash game, single/multi player, well on multi player i cannot for my life get the multi player functions to work, as in in the end the game already knows who the winner is based on an integer score, then it is supposed to use an sqlite database to take the highest scored player such as P1 or P2 and allow them to input there name to be permanently displayed. it cannot seem to differentiate using IF statements, but the feature does work with single player flawlessly, i may link source code if asked, TY
I'm interested in doing some development for android. I'm just not sure where to start. I see a ton of books on Amazon.
I'm just wondering what would be recommended for an absolute beginner. I know my way around a computer so i don't need it that noob'd down.
I think i would like to play with some apps, and eventually move to Kernels and Roms.
What you you recommend?
Probably the best way to start is to learn Java (the main coding language for apps and userspace), and C (the main languages for kernelspace stuff). After that, messing with the App Inventor would be the place to go.
Search dsixda very helpful thread
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i was thinking of learning some basics of android app development and coding with a very basic walk through so that i can fully understand what i'm going to be able to use the Java code in particular applications. Would this be a bad strategy.
As a software developer, I would recommend spending a couple weeks getting the basics of Java and object-oriented development down. Do a few sample apps in Java. Once you've done that, try Android. I'm afraid that learning to code, learning Java, and learning to develop for Android all in one may be too much for someone.
You really need to have the basics of Java and object-orientation down, then take on Android as it's not altogether simple, particularly for someone who's just learned to code.
As far as kernel/ROM development, I'm guessing C and Linux shell scripts are the things to learn there. If you want to write Android apps, do as I've mentioned above.
I have a question. Ive been doing web development for two years now. I would say I am at an expert level in XHTML/HTML and CSS, and I know a little bit of basic PHP. I want to get into Android app development, but I have no idea where to begin. What language do I need to learn? Java?
Should I become more comfortable with PHP first, does it matter?
Sorry for the noob question. I am just interested in hearing from some other devs about this, any advice is appreciated.
Yes, you will need to learn Java programming language. SDK
ryno502 said:
I have a question. Ive been doing web development for two years now. I would say I am at an expert level in XHTML/HTML and CSS, and I know a little bit of basic PHP. I want to get into Android app development, but I have no idea where to begin. What language do I need to learn? Java?
Should I become more comfortable with PHP first, does it matter?
Sorry for the noob question. I am just interested in hearing from some other devs about this, any advice is appreciated.
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Here's a video tutorial to get you started in application development in android.
http://www.xtensivearts.com/2009/07/03/episode-1-getting-started/
Learn Java, XML, and the inner workings of Android / Linux at the bare minimum. You should be able to make something simple and worthwhile with just that. Once you do, you should learn some basic computer science concepts, such as procedural programming, oo programming, algorithms, data structures, and basc compiler theory. Lastly, you should learn C/C++ and how they hook into Java using JNI. At that point, you could make something really sweet.
Application development is hard and it, in many ways, is a different beast from web deveopment. Experience with HTML / CSS will come in handy when dealing with the XML files. Experience with PHP an Javascript will aid you in learning Java.
I have heard that a true hacker knows at least five different programming languages ( sorry HTML and CSS don't count for that ), and most really good programmers know more. Once you understand the concepts behind programming, and exactly how the code you type becomes binary code that your computer executes, picking up new languages is a breeze.
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Thank you. I know some basic PHP, but I am not an expert by any means. I will look into taking some tutorials in Java, XML, etc.
I was reading into Android App Inventor, and I know its no substitute for Eclipse/Android SDK for making full blown complex applications, but do you think It would be beneficial for me to experiment with that?
Be sure to check out Adobe AIR. It's open source and you can develop under OS X, Linux or Windows. You can also do cross-platform apps for iOS or Blackberry's new tablet.
Is that whassup adobe air is? Basically dreamweaver for apps?
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ryno502 said:
Is that whassup adobe air is? Basically dreamweaver for apps?
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I'd compare it to Visual Basic. You code in a combination of Actionscript 3 (basically a javascript clone) and mxml. Programs require the Air runtime (again, like old visual basic) to run, except for iOS where supposedly native code is generated.
You can code using Adobe's Flash Builder IDE or other third-party IDEs, or from the command-line.
No Android SDK or Java required.
So can I use Air instead of Eclipse?
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ryno502 said:
So can I use Air instead of Eclipse?
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No. Adobe's IDE is a modified version of Eclipse. You can also get a plugin for "regular" Eclipse.
ryno502 said:
So can I use Air instead of Eclipse?
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I would imagine you would get far better results using Java (what I imagine you mean by Eclipse), but if any of you have experience developing for Air for Android, please put your experiences! I have not tried it myself, but usually those sort of "easy programming tools" are good mostly for rapid prototyping.
Im just looking for a good place to start. I have zero programming experience.
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My suggestion then would be to focus more on learning to program, and getting some experience programming in general. It would might be best to start learning Java while you learn some of those basic CS concepts I mentioned in te earlier post. In the long run, those general programming skills will help you way more than learning to code for a specific platform.
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Thanks for the advice. I will look into learning some java.
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Dont touch app inventor. Its nasty and will make you lazy. Kind of like learning vb before c. You get backwards and lazy and its hard to correct. I won't even higher developers who list vb as a language on their resume, we have no use for it and c# does all of the same things in good oop fashion. Vb should die a horrible painful death.
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Kcarpenter said:
Dont touch app inventor. Its nasty and will make you lazy. Kind of like learning vb before c. You get backwards and lazy and its hard to correct. I won't even higher developers who list vb as a language on their resume, we have no use for it and c# does all of the same things in good oop fashion. Vb should die a horrible painful death.
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I'll have to politely disagree. First, its been my experience that once you know one language, picking up another isn't a big deal.
I'm retired now, but in general business (circa 1978-2001), application development was always about selection of the best tool for the job at hand. Low-level languages like assembler ,c ,c++ were considered overkill for jobs like data entry screens, batch processing, report-writing,etc,etc. You know, the stuff that most businesses do every day
Tools like VB and Delphi were godsends.
Of course if you're coding kernels and compilers, it's a different story
ryno502 said:
I was reading into Android App Inventor, and I know its no substitute for Eclipse/Android SDK for making full blown complex applications, but do you think It would be beneficial for me to experiment with that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience with it, I would say don't bother. I made my first android app with it, but I found it very convoluted and not intuitive at all. It was like they were so intent on everything being graphical that they did everything that way, even it made things ten times harder.
But here were the real problems with it, and why I would not recommend it:
1. Though you can make a functioning app with it, you cannot put that app in the market. This wouldn't be a problem if your goal was simply to use this as a learning step, but for the next item:
2. What you do in app inventor is in no way similar to writing actual code in Eclipse. Nothing I did with app inventor helped me in any way when I started using Eclipse. It might be useful for someone who's never done any programming whatsoever, since you do have to deal with variables and logic, etc., but knowledge of any programing language at all would be more useful that what you'd learn with this.
3. The functionality of an app inventor app is very limited. For example, I do not believe there is a way to have your app access anything on the internet.
It was an interesting experience, and in defense of app inventor, I was able to produce a highly useful app for my co-workers (though I've since re-written it using the standard eclipse/java method). It took no more than a couple of hours to do, which is really pretty amazing since it required no foreknowledge. But ultimately, I don't think it's worth the effort to learn to use if you have any long-term goals related to writing useful android apps, especially apps that any other people will use.
[It was many months ago that I last tried it, so it's possible they have made some improvements to it. The most useful one would be to be able to convert your app into java code --- then it might really become a learning tool for the person with coding and even java code but no familiarity with the android sdk.]
I think app inventor is meant primarily as a rapid prototyping tool and secondarily as an aid to learning the high level view of how Android functions. I haven't used it myself, but it sounds like it is serving its purpose.
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App Developers
Looking for a developer to build an app for my industry. Thank you.
In an earlier post, I suggested that learning functional programming would be a good idea. I meant procedural programming. My bad, sorry if I caused any confusion.
Hi, I have experience programming in Java and c/c++ and was looking at getting into programming some apps or even helping on on some roms and finally start helping out around the EVO community. I just need a little help getting started. I have eclipse and such set up, but does anyone have any tips or tutorials that might help. (Yes, I have searched Google). Maybe alittle insight in to somethings that I may run into. I want to create apps and games that will be helpful to the community. Thanks
I don't know if it would help but there is an android 'chef' section here on xda:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=613
and this thread seems to have a few resources for getting started:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=697938
Have you run through the tutorials and read all the documentation on developer.android.com? The "Dev Guide" and the "Resources" tabs are a good place to start, as is just reading through the javadocs for the API. If you're already a Java programmer, you know the code semantics already. It's just a question of understanding the Android concepts. Not to say that's trivial, but the foundation of the language is Java, which means knowing it gives you a head start.
Do a search On xda site for "everything android" its a huge file I put together that includes lots of needed tools and setup files for cooking roms and building apps. It also has a guide with links to the sites where I got the tools from. That should help. Just remember it's for windows and I recommend downloading to ur computer not ur phone cause its over a gig in size
Papa Smurf151 said:
Do a search On xda site for "everything android" its a huge file I put together that includes lots of needed tools and setup files for cooking roms and building apps. It also has a guide with links to the sites where I got the tools from. That should help. Just remember it's for windows and I recommend downloading to ur computer not ur phone cause its over a gig in size
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Thanks, for that. I looked around the forum but prob would of had a real hard time finding that.
If you are more comfortable with the .net framework, get MonoDroid. C# programming for android. You just need a copy of visual studio 2010, thank god for the free ultimate version I got from school. I haven't messed around with it a lot yet but there is no visual representation of the screen or adding strings like in Eclipse but I like C# more than Java so I'll use this more often than not
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Comrade P said:
If you are more comfortable with the .net framework, get MonoDroid. C# programming for android. You just need a copy of visual studio 2010, thank god for the free ultimate version I got from school. I haven't messed around with it a lot yet but there is no visual representation of the screen or adding strings like in Eclipse but I like C# more than Java so I'll use this more often than not
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I have visual studio 2010 ultimate as well from my school. I haven't ever worked with c# but i cant imagine that its much more different from C/C++. Just some different ways of calling/naming things
Exactly. I like it a lot more than Java. Can't really explain it. Just test both of them out and see which you prefer.
Hello everyone. I was wondering if there is any way to convert the popular game, "I wanna be the guy" to the Xperia Play. Or for that matter, any Multimedia Fusion game. Since the game was made in Multimedia Fusion 2, and the source code was released, AND there is an option to export the game into android, it should be possible, right? If anyone knows how to do this, and will be willing to work on it with me, then please reply to this thread. Thank you.
The android export is only a placeholder-text at this point, it's still being worked on
Hmmm, well there is a java export. Maybe we could somehow import that into eclipse and then edit the buttons.
bballchace said:
Hmmm, well there is a java export. Maybe we could somehow import that into eclipse and then edit the buttons.
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Its nowhere near that simple. While Android programs are programmed in "Java" theres way more behind the scenes with libraries involved and other parts of the Android SDK.
It could be done, but it is a staggering amount of work.
Rogue Leader said:
Its nowhere near that simple. While Android programs are programmed in "Java" theres way more behind the scenes with libraries involved and other parts of the Android SDK.
It could be done, but it is a staggering amount of work.
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well, since thats basically out of the question, what if i got an html5 source code of a similar game that was made in gamemaker? would that be possible to port onto the Xperia Play? Sorry about me being such a noob, I am not familiar with the Android SDK, and only know C++
bballchace said:
well, since thats basically out of the question, what if i got an android export of a similar game that was made in gamemaker? would that be possible to port onto the Xperia Play? Sorry about me being such a newbie, I am not familiar with the Android SDK, and only know C++
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Creating a game using game maker will only give you the binaries not the source, you cant just use it to make an android or iOS game.
Honestly the easiest way to make a game for android would be to create it in flash and then put in in some kind of wrapper to make it launch natively. The proper way to make a game would be to learn how to create one using C++ which will probably take a good few months before you could even create something basic. It depends how fast you are at learning new things.
However if you are going to learn programming I highly recommend starting somewhere easier like VB or Java to at least understand the general concept of programming. (preferably VB is you are a total newbie)
bballchace said:
well, since thats basically out of the question, what if i got an html5 source code of a similar game that was made in gamemaker? would that be possible to port onto the Xperia Play? Sorry about me being such a noob, I am not familiar with the Android SDK, and only know C++
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That would be even more work than converting the Java program. There is no simple way to "Port" games from one platform to another unless there is an emulator (and they don't make PC emulators for Android, and even if they did it would probably run like ****).
Android games are programmed in Java, however the Android SDK has libraries to make it work for every possible function of an Android Phone. If you don't know Java, you won't get very far in making anything work on Android. There are also special libraries for the Xperia Play you will need to download and then program the code into the game to recognize the gamepad controls.
If you really want to do this I would go ahead and learn Java, make a few programs and then tackle the game. Its going to be quite the project, but you'll definitely learn a lot.