Making android apps

Kanpai · 5 Apr 2013 at 16:29

Just out of curiosity, what are the most common programming languages/software that are used to create android apps?

Cuchulain · 5 Apr 2013 at 16:30

Java and any java IDE.

Kanpai · 5 Apr 2013 at 16:38

Sorry I should have been a bit more clear, for example you've got Adobe Flash which uses ActionScript3, what are the alternatives?

rsatd · 5 Apr 2013 at 17:05

Cuchulain said:
Java and any java IDE.

This, you can also do it in html + js, there are other frameworks for that, but you will still need a java ide to build and submit your app to the app store.

AndrewNR · 5 Apr 2013 at 22:09

I'm in the final year of a computing degree and have done a fair bit of Java and would like to give this app malarkey a go.

Are there any books you guys would recommend?

I only have NetBeans installed on this PC at the moment.

Pho · 5 Apr 2013 at 23:14

AndrewNR said:
I'm in the final year of a computing degree and have done a fair bit of Java and would like to give this app malarkey a go.

Are there any books you guys would recommend?

Just follow http://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html - it's a pretty excellent guide.

Fortunately Android development seems far easier than iOS - another developer at work built an iOS app and had far more hassle than I seemed to with Android! Also, Apple were (and are still) a complete nightmare to deal with due to their controlling/paranoid nature in terms of what your apps can do and what devices they can talk to.

Thrash · 5 Apr 2013 at 23:26

Android can be painful to develop for. Certainly lacks the polish of other platforms. If you are handy with Java and don't mind getting knee deep in XML, then you should be ok.

AndrewNR · 6 Apr 2013 at 12:02

Thanks Pho and Thrash, i'll take a look at that link provided above.

Cycrow · 9 Apr 2013 at 14:55

Id suggest using something like Eclipse with ADT.

Althou i've never really been a fan of Java (prefer C++).
Just have to put it up with it for my Job

Theres plenty of guides and help on the android pages to get you started and plenty of examples to work through as well.

And anything you're struggling with you can always check stack overflow

annaharris · 12 Apr 2013 at 13:45

Java and XML both are needed for Android app. So, you should have knowledge of both to become a good Android developer.

Cycrow · 12 Apr 2013 at 14:08

Technically you dont really need to know much about XML as the design can create most of it for you.

althou it useful to know incase you need to edit them manually (The design does sometimes make a mess of things)

jonneymendoza · 17 Apr 2013 at 15:19

Cycrow said:
Technically you dont really need to know much about XML as the design can create most of it for you.

althou it useful to know incase you need to edit them manually (The design does sometimes make a mess of things)

You need XML to register your components ie activities, content providers, broadcast recievers and services just to name a few.

Cycrow · 17 Apr 2013 at 16:54

Not really.
as i said, all that can be done via the the ADT plugin for Eclipse.

i tend to prefer to do it in XML but u dont need to

annaharris · 3 May 2013 at 13:48

Definitely, Java is the best language for creating any android apps apart from this you can use C++, Python, etc.

Cycrow · 3 May 2013 at 15:02

althou with c++, you cant use this on its own, you have to use it along side java with the NDK.

But this is actually quite limited as you dont get access to some of the api features of android, and it has to be compiled for each type of phone for it to work.

And accessing some of the hardware is also difficult using c++

NathanE · 5 May 2013 at 08:35

I use Xamarin. Lets you write both iOS and Android apps in modern languages: C# and F#. And you can share assemblies between the two. So only your presentation layer is different.

jonneymendoza · 5 May 2013 at 12:01

NathanE said:
I use Xamarin. Lets you write both iOS and Android apps in modern languages: C# and F#. And you can share assemblies between the two. So only your presentation layer is different.

im pretty sure there are limitations in doing so.

why ignore writing native code in its native languague? i dont see the downfall of doing so?

correct me if im wrong but android was build on top of java and iOS on objective C?

Why jump through hoops developing on another language that wasnt designed for the platform/framework?

NathanE · 5 May 2013 at 19:26

jonneymendoza said:
im pretty sure there are limitations in doing so.

why ignore writing native code in its native languague? i dont see the downfall of doing so?

correct me if im wrong but android was build on top of java and iOS on objective C?

Why jump through hoops developing on another language that wasnt designed for the platform/framework?

What limitations? I've not found any. If anything it is the opposite. I find Java and Obj-C to be limiting. I'm all for polyglot programming but only when the tools you're about to use are superior for the task at hand which Java and Obj-C are not. Hell you need to own a Mac to even get started writing iOS apps if it wasn't for Xamarin.

jonneymendoza · 5 May 2013 at 19:28

NathanE said:
What limitations? I've not found any. If anything it is the opposite. I find Java and Obj-C to be limiting. I'm all for polyglot programming but only when the tools you're about to use are superior for the task at hand which Java and Obj-C are not. Hell you need to own a Mac to even get started writing iOS apps if it wasn't for Xamarin.

So why dont everyone develope android apps in C# then if it offers more benefits then using java?

Doesnt make sense. there has to be limitations else everyone will make android apps in C# .

NathanE · 6 May 2013 at 07:36

jonneymendoza said:
So why dont everyone develope android apps in C# then if it offers more benefits then using java?

Doesnt make sense. there has to be limitations else everyone will make android apps in C# .

Probably because historically there was no free version of Xamarin.

It doesn't really matter. Who cares what the decision making process is for the typical mobile app developer? Most of them are clueless.

As I said Xamarin lets you write most of your app code once and then share it between the iOS and Android compilations. Only the presentation layer will differ. Try doing that using the laymen approach!