The market for Android app is clearly booming in these times. Web developers are now turning into producing mobile applications with over 1 billion devices running on Android. It’s an exciting and profitable space for developers. So what are the things you’ll need to learn to build your first Android app?
First, you’ll need to learn the Android language. And that is the codes to be used.
Java is an essential programming language that are mostly read in many platforms for apps, especially android ones. This can be used in a desktop PC or Raspberry Pi. Java relies primarily on a ‘virtual machine’ that comprehends Java bytecode, an intermediate format. These virtual machine interprets bytecode and execute this program on a processor. To accelerate the process, VMs use just-in-time compilation and ahead-of-time compilation. Once you know the basics of java, an Android Software Development Kit (SDK) is needed to create an android app.
Corona is an alternative language you may want to learn in case you don’t find Java appealing for your use in creating an app. It’s a high-level SDK that uses LUA programming language as a platform. It’s simpler and the use of SDK takes out a lot of the difficulty to creating an android app. It’s an uncomplicated tool that displays the image that you preferred and have texts on the screen using just 3 lines of code.
Photogap is another platform for creating beautiful apps but requires a higher skill level. If you’re already familiar with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, then this is the language you might want to use for your app. It’s based on Cordova project that lets you create a webview that you can populate and operate using JavaScript. This web app is compatible with various device features, similar to that of a native app, by using cordova.js to get an API binding.
Now that you’re familiar with some common languages to use for your Android app, here are some of the tools you’ll need.
Android Software Development Kit (or SDK) is a collection of tool that you can use to creating apps. It features an Eclipse or Android studio. It has two integrated development environments (IDE). IDE is the primary program that lets you write code and assimilate your app together. It lets you organize and edit various app files, manage packages, support libraries that your app uses and make use of this to test your app on an emulator or real gadgets.
On the other hand, Eclipse lets you modify Java and XML files to organize several pieces off your app. Google has a package version of this that features a package manager that lets you update the latest releases of Android tools from Google.
Android Studio is another product off Google that is still on its beta-phase. The intention is to replace IDE as the main platform for Android development. However, this does not suit everyone. Nonetheless, Android Studio makes for a good replacement for IDE in the future.
So where do you go from here? Follow Android. There’s a community of supporters and developers who are constantly on the look-out for the ‘next best thing’. Keep yourself updated for the latest developments, tools and frameworks that may come out in the market.