Help an old programmer out...

[deadbot1]

I haven't really done anything on the programming side of things since VB6.0. Learned a bit of C once upon a time, but never really got anywhere.

Can any of you fine Devs here point me in the right directions to begin learning how to program for Android? Remember, please, that I will likely have to unlearn some things, and that I have ZERO JAVA experience. I would love to be able to make some apps to fill gaps that I see in the market.

I am running on a dual boot lappy with Win Vista and Linux Mint 10(Ubuntu derivative). Links or pointers to what I need for both sides will be welcomed and appreciated.

 

[luciferii]

im reading hello android v3 and its great so far.. ive also been going thru android source.. download the android sdk and eclipse for linux and or windows.. i prefer linux as does most devs. ive also registered for night time java classes at the local community college for 13 bucks a semester. anyways goodluck!

 

[fattire]

This might be helpful for basic syntax stuff.

 

[sinanju]

Start with fattire's link and pick up the Java basics. To read Android examples, you'll need to understand how Classes and Interfaces work as well as how to extend and implement them, respectively. You'll also want to understand inner classes and anonymous inner classes. Understand variable scoping in classes.

Learn how threads work. Understand the implications of multithreading and reentrance. Experiment a lot in simple, stand-alone samples.

Once you've gotten started with Java, you can download Eclipse and the Android SDK. Here's the Android "Hello World" tutorial, which is a reasonable place to start. It has pointers to everything you'll need.

http://developer.android.com/guide/tutorials/hello-world.html

Android Applications are pretty straightforward once you understand the basics... AppWidgets and Services are less so. The trick is to understand the lifecycle of each -- where and when it's appropriate to do what sorts of work and how to communicate results between different components. It will be rough going in the beginning with a fair amount of crashing as you discover you're taking too long to do something that really should be offloaded to a different part of the lifecycle or a whole new thread -- or when you discover you can't do something you want, directly, because you lack the parts and have to send a message to something that does have all the parts.

My first project was a simple button on the home screen that, in effect, runs a few commands. It took me more than a week to make it work properly, and I was already familiar with Java.

Also understand that some of the examples floating around -- even those from Google employees -- are old and that Android has had some growing pains. Double check the approach suggested by anything that's older than a year. The SDK contains sample programs that make for decent cookbook code.

 

[deadbot1]

thanks to all of you...as well as the mod who moved the thread to the correct spot...wasn't sure if this was the correct one.

 

[ace7196]

Hello android (as mentioned above) is awesome! Another good one is Beginning Android 2. Both found here:]

Hello Android

Beginning Android