Android Software Development

[cyberkid2002]

Hi all,

I work in IT but have never done any programming at all before. I would like to get started in developing apps for Android. Does anyone have any pointers tips on doing this. Is Android the wrong place to start with programming or should I be ok? Does anyone know of any good resources which should get me started, either online or in book form?

Any advice appreciated,
Michael

[JiltedCitizen]

Manning has a Developing for Android book. http://www.manning.com/ableson/ You'll need to learn Java so start there too. Or look into Titanium http://www.appcelerator.com/

[Mikey]

Promoting your site, isn't a good idea ;)

[divestoclimb]

I don't necessarily want to discourage you, but doing proper software development isn't the easiest thing to learn. There's a pretty steep learning curve surrounding object-oriented development, and the alternative is something you'll either hate or misuse.

Most people starting to program first learn how to make things happen in code procedurally: do A, then when that's done do B, then when that's done do C. Trying to program user interfaces this way is awful because the user workflow does not necessarily follow each little action in a specific order (and the interface has to continue to be responsive while your program is working). Your code will almost certainly suck and you'll spend most of your time testing, fixing bugs, and rejecting feature requests because they are "impossible" until you learn the better way: break down the problem into discrete blocks of related data and resources (the objects), define all the ways each block can be manipulated (the methods on those objects), define the conditions under which different actions must take place (thread messaging, event handlers), and tie all of that together into an application.

If this sort of thing interests you, great! I myself used to work in IT and found software development to be a much more interesting, open, and creative field. Mobile development is an especially fun field because you can deal with smaller projects and your customers are normal people, not businesses. I caution you not to jump right into the deep end, though; read several books on java and OOP, start with a smaller project and redesign/rewrite it several times until it's perfect, then you'll be ready to take what you've learned and apply it to something incrementally bigger.