I sympathize with you (and have ranted here before on this exact topic). I've not found a good book on Android. Best I've found in a print edition is "Pro Android 2" by Hashimi et al, but it's only mediocre. There is also a pretty good $$ online Android reference, but I can't find a link to it just now (which is irritating, because I paid for a year's subscription).
I'm not sure why there's such a dearth of good Android documentation, especially given that what I'd like most is a good basic reference (which would normally be the first thing written), vs some sort of hand-holding tutorial. On Sep 12, 4:14 pm, JeremyV <[email protected]> wrote: > Perhaps I am out of place with all of this but I have reached the > height of exasperation and this seemed the best place to call out for > assistance. I understand the tremendous work behind providing high > quality, detailed documentation and tutorials for frameworks, and I > have a great deal of appreciation for the Android framework as it is, > so please don't misinterpret this as whining. I simply would like to > voice my frustrations.... > > I learned to develop for the iPhone in about 3 months. It took me > another 3 to develop my knowledge to the point where I would feel > confident saying I am 'good'. I understand the differences... Closed > source, a development environment created specifically for, etc. I > wouldn't expect Android to offer similar ease but I would expect > Google to, at the very least, provide some real help for beginning > developers if they wish Android to ever really compete with the > iPhone. In principle, I would love to swear off Apple forever and > develop only for the Android, but I have been struggling with learning > Android for 4 months and still feel as though I have gotten nowhere. I > have read 3 books, gone through the available tutorials, read > evereything I could get my hands on, and still want to throw my > computer out the window whenever I try to do anything beyond the most > simple application logic for an Android app. The books are nearly > worthless unless you already know what you are doing (certainly not > Google's fault), the online tutorials are buggy at best (I have not > been able to compile a single one without googling for fixes and > remedies), and the documentation doesn't help at all unless you > already know what you are looking for. > > Developing for the iPhone is downright pleasant... Apple provides an > incredible amount of documentation, even providing downloadable PDFs > overflowing with implementation tips and tricks for common tasks. How > is a developer supposed to create top quality apps which will support > the platform when they cannot even install an SDK (having followed the > instructions provided directly from Google) without persisting issues? > I spend more time googling SDK bugs then developing, and when I'm not > having problems with the SDK, I'm having to google fixes for every > example and tutorial I work through because I have to work out how a > developer still learning is supposed to get anything at all out of the > online documentation. > > I'm trying very hard to get up to speed with the system and would love > to work in Android full time because I believe in the platform and I > believe in open source, but how am I supposed to do that when the > people who created it will not give a new developer anything to really > sink their teeth into? It's like trying to learn a language with a > dictionary... It seems to me that Google ought to recognize that the > income potential for developers is lower on Android then iOS and work > that much harder to make the learning curve a little easier to > overcome. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
