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New to programing

mraamohamed

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Aug 1, 2015
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Hello there all, before you spam me remember we were all beginners at one time or another. Ok with that said I am NEW to programming all together, but I want to learn and I have some ideas that I can not find an app for so I want to do for myself.

Now I have NO programming background, a little HTML and in that I mean LITTLE. So I have read that in todays world it is fairly easy to learn to do this, so I decided to go to the source and start with the forum that came up when I typed Learn Android Programming forums, and well here I am.

So please be honest with me, I am 52 years old so my mind is not as sharp as a 25-year-old, so might take me a while but I am willing to take the time as I am retired and just sit around watching YouTube all day anyways.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Abdulah
 
Hello,
Android apps are generally written in the Java programing language. Many people say they don't like Java. But I on the other hand find nothing wrong with it.

In general, programming is a set of instructions (list of steps) given to a machine to accomplish a task.

Java is no different.

I find that best way to learn programming is through examples. Then, I try modifying the examples to see how it changes the program.
 
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Hello, and welcome!

I'm the same age, but I've been programming since the late 70's, and that's what I do for a living. I only recently started Android programming. I also hadn't worked with Java previously. I found that, even with a background programming, the double learning curve (Java AND Android) was a bit challenging.

If I may suggest: don't jump straight into Android. Get a Java IDE installed (Eclipse or Netbeans) and run through some beginning Java programming tutorials or books to get a basic grounding in programming. Once you're fairly comfortable with that, then install Android Studio and start working on a simple app.

Not to say that you can't do both simultaneously, just that I think that, in the long run, you'll get farther faster by at least learning the basics first, before trying to work with Android.

And you'll find there's a lot of helpful people around here. They really helped me move along as I was learning.

Good luck!
 
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The key thing is coming up with an idea that can be addressed by an app. Quite often the most useful app ideas come from a problem that you have, and want to solve. If you can't think of an original idea, use something that's already covered by an existing app, and improve it. Make it personal to you. For example there are tons of banking and finance apps out there, but do they have the exact features that you want or need? If not, design an app that does exactly what you need. Not only would that be an excellent learning vehicle to get into app development, you might end up with a very useful app. And if other people think so, you could even make a bit of money from it.
Above all, have fun!
 
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The key thing is coming up with an idea that can be addressed by an app. Quite often the most useful app ideas come from a problem that you have, and want to solve. If you can't think of an original idea, use something that's already covered by an existing app, and improve it. Make it personal to you. For example there are tons of banking and finance apps out there, but do they have the exact features that you want or need? If not, design an app that does exactly what you need. Not only would that be an excellent learning vehicle to get into app development, you might end up with a very useful app. And if other people think so, you could even make a bit of money from it.
Above all, have fun!

That's exactly what I did with my map app. Every map app I've tried has all kinds of extra stuff - "nearby places", "rate your visit", etc. Not just Google maps but Mapquest, etc. All I wanted was a map with a blue line. Couldn't find it, so I made it.

The ideas are out there, you just need to look. One thing I learned some time back - you can't compete with the giants, but they try to be everything to everyone. It's the underserved niche's where you'll find the best traction.
 
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Hello there all, before you spam me remember we were all beginners at one time or another. Ok with that said I am NEW to programming all together, but I want to learn and I have some ideas that I can not find an app for so I want to do for myself.

Now I have NO programming background, a little HTML and in that I mean LITTLE. So I have read that in todays world it is fairly easy to learn to do this, so I decided to go to the source and start with the forum that came up when I typed Learn Android Programming forums, and well here I am.

So please be honest with me, I am 52 years old so my mind is not as sharp as a 25-year-old, so might take me a while but I am willing to take the time as I am retired and just sit around watching YouTube all day anyways.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Abdulah
I would probably run Netbeans, and don't bother getting into JavaFx, just learn the basics of java, like conditional statements, variables, loops, classes, objects, static/non-static methods, arrays, Strings, Collections.
Start with finding prime numbers or things like that.
 
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