Apps getting into android development?

[Sandgoose]

any suggestions on where to start getting android development?

I have 'some' limited experience with java script and a tiny bit of php rest of my experience is in html, mssql but mostly asp.

language
Im not really sure where to start and with what language ? I did look into C# but coming from mostly asp it seemed a little complicated (object stuff), im also getting mixed feedback on java some seem to like it others don't rate it.

suggestions welcome (books, guide, language?)

what to make
I figured thinking of an app to make and then learning as I go would be a b̶a̶d̶ good idea but every time I come up with an idea for something (usually something I would use myself) I search and find it already exists, should I go ahead and try make something that already exists to add variety? or try come up with something original?

money
do people actually make any money from android ? I don't want to make apps to become rich or anything but making something to support writing apps as a part time/hobby would be cool

thanks

 

[Rukbat]

I have 'some' limited experience with java script

Forget any idea that a knowledge of Javascript is going to help you with Java. Javascript isn't some script version of Java, it's a totally different language that shares part of a name and absolutely nothing else. (Netscape took advantage of the popularity of Java at the time to name their browser scripting addition.)

language
Im not really sure where to start and with what language ?

Try Java.

im also getting mixed feedback on java some seem to like it others don't rate it.

Whether you like it or not has nothing to do with using it for Android. If you hate French and speak Urdu in France, it's mostly not going to work.

suggestions welcome (books, guide, language?)

Algorithms and Data Structures is always the first place to start learning programming. If you don't know programming, knowing 25 programming languages isn't going to do you any good. You'll always be using "app-creating apps" to create your apps. That's like filling in the blanks in someone else's composition. You can change the names, but if he wrote about a war, you can't write about a peace.

what to make
I figured thinking of an app to make and then learning as I go would be a b̶a̶d̶ good idea but every time I come up with an idea for something (usually something I would use myself) I search and find it already exists

So what? It's still a good way to learn. Go back even further. Compile on of the examples in the SDK. Then make a minor modification and compile it and see if it works.

money
do people actually make any money from android ?

Do people actually make money from websites? Mark Zuckerburg sure did. Do people actually make money writing software? Bill Gates sure did. But for every Bill Gates, there are thousands of people who write software, but need day jobs to pay the bills. Same with Android. Some people are probably earning a good living from some really good Android app, while thousands of others are releasing something they wrote because they needed it, while working 9-5 doing something else (maybe programming, but not necessarily).

I don't want to make apps to become rich or anything but making something to support writing apps as a part time/hobby would be cool

I wrote shareware (back when the concept was starting) for quite a few years. I made about $10 total. But I wrote a lot of stuff I needed, and I had a lot of fun. (And met some great people.) If you're doing it for money - any amount of money - you're not going to be happy.

 

[Sandgoose]

Javascript is going to help you with Java

I have never tried java so I don't is the syntax similar ? either way my previous searches seemed to suggest going from one language to another makes things easier although I guess it could work against things if the syntax was different such as getting into the habit of code comments with " ' " and not " // " etc.

Try Java

Is it less portable? (I know that contradicts its purpose) what I mean is if I were to later decide to write a windows program c# can compile executables while java compiles applets that require a runtime right ? maybe Im just over thinking it.

Whether you like it or not has nothing to do with using it for Android. If you hate French and speak Urdu in France, it's mostly not going to work.

I have see some people say Java is slow, fast, old , c# superior, learn both and one guy say it didn't really matter which you learn.

the data structure stuff I had a quick skim (saved it for a proper read later)

I wrote shareware (back when the concept was starting) for quite a few years. I made about $10 total. But I wrote a lot of stuff I needed, and I had a lot of fun. (And met some great people.) If you're doing it for money - any amount of money - you're not going to be happy.

I was paid weekly writing asp scripts and while I don't think it made me particularly unhappy always writing (and constantly modifying) programs at the whims of the higher ups did get a little annoying sometimes (recession put the company under) but if I could mess around and make apps that I want for myself any money I could make either via selling or ad support would probably be a bonus.


thanks for the response I appreciate it.

 

[Rukbat]

I have never tried java so I don't is the syntax similar ?

Not at all.

either way my previous searches seemed to suggest going from one language to another makes things easier although I guess it could work against things if the syntax was different such as getting into the habit of code comments with " ' " and not " // " etc.

If you know programming, knowing more than one language makes it easier to pick up one more. If you don't know programming ... what good would be knowing how to read a recipe for chicken pot pie for a distant ancestor who didn't know about fire? If you know languages you know the words, but if you don't know programming you don't know what sentences to write with them.

Is it less portable? (I know that contradicts its purpose) what I mean is if I were to later decide to write a windows program c# can compile executables while java compiles applets that require a runtime right ? maybe Im just over thinking it.

C# runs on Windows and, kinda-sorta on Linux (if you rewrite it). Java runs. Unless you get too far into the specifics of the device (write a program that requires 485 pixels vertically, for instance), it runs as is on any device for which there's a Java Runtime. Android is kind of between. You have to recompile for different versions.

I have see some people say Java is slow

True, since it's not compiled to machine code.

fast

Compared to what? GWBasic?

old

So is machine code, but that's what every processor uses.

c# superior

In earning Microsoft money.

and one guy say it didn't really matter which you learn.

It doesn't if you haven't learned programming first. Whether you learn French or German makes no difference if you want to be a doctor, unless you've learned medicine first.

If you don't know programming, all the languages in the world won't help. If you know programming, and no language, a coder can code it for you. But if, in your travels through programmingland, you happen to learn how websites really work, and how they should really work, you'll see a lot of examples of people who know PHP, Javascript, HTML, CSS and not a bit of programming (or other skills needed to make a really good site). And Windows programs and Android apps are the same. There are some great ideas, with useless implementations, mediocre ideas with great programming - it's all over the map. Just look at the recent Samsung S3 4.3 update. Bug-per-line coding. Upgrading the phone to 4.3 was a great idea. Virtually bricking thousands of phones not so much.

(The greatest programming I ever saw was the CEO of a company I was chief programmer for. We were a few miles past the bleeding edge, and banging our heads against the wall to try to get 3 CPUs to communicate - LONG before the days of networking. He put something up on the whiteboard that had come to him out of the blue - this is how he wanted it to work. Pictures and English. We coded it, and had a working system in an hour - at about 2 AM on a Saturday morning. It's still out there, 35 years later, working. Could we do it better today? Sure. Scrap one 405 foot long ribbon cable bidirectional data bus and put in wifi. Rip out a truckload of 8279s and use one of the CPUs to read all the keypads and run all the displays. Or one CPU. The one in my phone is faster and more powerful than an array of 16 would have been back then. But for its day - he was a mechanical engineer, knew nothing about computers, but was one heck of a programmer. )

 

[Z223I]

Do what you love to do even if you are not paid! My parents, teachers and others have told me that.

Fortunately for me, I picked up a book on Computer Memory over 40 years ago and am still hooked.

Practice. Practice.

 

[Rukbat]

A man can go to work to earn a living, or a man can go to work to do what he enjoys doing, and get paid while doing it.

The second man is usually the happier man.

It's nice when you can't wait to get out of bed and into the office because there's something you just can't wait to do. It's not so nice when you have to drag yourself out of bed because it's a work day.

 

[Sandgoose]

Compared to what? GWBasic?

Slow, when searching for information on performance one thing I ran into a few times was minecraft, I had seen several complaints it was slow "because of java" but I have seen people say its just slow because of how the program was written.

fast, someone claimed recently with compiler optimizations and current hardware java was as fast as c# ?

old, maybe obsolete would have been a better choice of words?, Im not saying I buy it just the impression I got from a few posts I read.

In earning Microsoft money

hahah at one point I actually got a bunch of books & guides with the intention of getting into Microsoft xna (this was in my spare time while I was still working with asp) I really didn't have the time to get into it proper so ended up abandoning it, fast-forward to now and so did Microsoft. that one worked out for me I guess.

I know how fun bugs can be sometimes like a stack of cards, sometimes you change 1 thing and everything breaks! I had a few osh_t! moments where my heart jumped into my throat when I broke the live version of of our site with an updated I was asked to make. It worked fine on our test server but totally killed large parts of the site on our live servers!

at the time it was bad but I fixed it, thinking back it makes me smile because it does not matter now and fixing things as fast as possible was kind of fun.

anyway thanks again for the responses.