On 08/10/2010 07:51 PM, Andy Random wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for a good place to start to learn about developing apps
> for Android.
>
> I have more years than I'm willing to admit to of software development
> (Assembler/C/Perl) experience but have never done anything with Java
> and have fairly limited experience of OO coding in general.
>
> So despite the subject line I'm not looking for something which
> teaches you how to code, but I am looking for something which doesn't
> assume you are already an experienced Java developer.
>
> Any suggestions or recommendations?
>
I work as a Java developer so I'm probably not best placed to comment on
how good the documentation is for non-Java developers, even I find it a
bit cryptic at times. Having said that have you tried the basic android
dev guide?
http://developer.android.com/guide/index.html
The biggest thing about Android is understanding the slightly odd
combination of Activities, Services, Intents etc. And I've found that
the best thing is the developer guide, specifically starting here to
understand how the different elements work together:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html
And their guides of developing in Eclipse etc. are fairly low level
taking you through what menus to select, buttons to click etc.
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/eclipse-adt.html
The problem is that once you've gone beyond the basics the android code
mostly relies on you understanding OO and being able to read javadoc.
The documentation is fairly good, often with good code snippets and
examples, but you are going to struggle without basic Java knowledge.
I would recommend getting used to Eclipse with some basic Java
development, get used to using Eclipse (make sure you get 3.5, not 3.6
as Android dev kit doesn't work on 3.6 yet), and look for some simple
Java tutorials on the web first before then diving in to the Android
fundamentals.
My strongest recommendation about Android would be to get a good grasp
on the design fundamentals from the dev guide. Even as an experienced
Java developer I made some pretty big mistakes with my first app and
structured it all wrong and had to re-write it. However it's nearly
done.. some more testing on my phone and I will be releasing it to the
market place soon :)
Hopefully none of that is teaching you to suck eggs. I know it doesn't
really answer your question, but I don't really know of a beginners guide.
