Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
Domin8rJ listen up buddy, wid due respect to the prev posts on this thread heres an idea for u.. u might take tym fr it but its k jus take any chap or couple of chaps frm any subject and jus create an app.. so i would b like having a chap in ur phone.. automating it in a way towards smarter education.. jus draw some sample screens on a paper,try to go thru chapters frm mark murphy's book so that screens smehw can b designed.. later on things will fall into place slowly wid event handling an all.. jus try it..any help in that matter mail me okk.. it can turn out to b very difficult for u but try it out.. its fun coding in android.. On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 1:27 AM, Tommy Hartz droi...@gmail.com wrote: I had no concept of java or c++ I was a VB.net guy up until I needed to learn android. I just jumped right into Marks book as noted below and then started messing around with sample apps. If you have any programming background pickup up Java isn’t hard as long as you know how to use google. If you get stuck, like I have in the past many times, ask a well thought out and detailed question to this forum and people WILL help, I have learned a lot from this forum… ** ** If you have 0 programming experience you might be in for a rough ride and you will want to make sure any project you come up with is rather basic or you may not have time to finish it… ** ** Learning how to design and layout your application is in my opinion the hardest part of android, but once you get it and figure it out it is smooth sailing from there. ** ** *From:* android-developers@googlegroups.com [mailto: android-developers@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Lew *Sent:* Wednesday, September 05, 2012 3:37 PM *To:* android-developers@googlegroups.com *Subject:* Re: [android-developers] School project help needed. ** ** Kristopher Micinski wrote: I don't think that Android is a significantly new API or programming ** ** Compared to what? environment, and if you know Java (and even if you don't, but know C++ or something similar-ish well enough) will be very easy to pick up.. ** ** You elide over the difficulties. Java is more than a language, it's an *** * environment, and that environment is quite different between Android and * *** other platforms. ** ** For example, you could go through years of standard or enterprise Java *** * programming without every defining a UI in XML. If this is new to you, it takes some getting used to, and no amount of Java or C++ knowledge is directly applicable. If you have a year of time to do so, I'd start by doing the following: - reading the developer guide - playing with a bunch of the sample apps - perhaps buying a copy of Mark Murphy's android book (the commonsware guide) if you find yourself needing more explained examples of the API, etc... ** ** You consider a year easy to pick up? ** ** I consider three days easy to pick up. A year seems on the long end of * *** what it should take to be competent at Android programming. ** ** -- Lew -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- live and let LIVE!!! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 7:33 AM, Amey Bapat amey.n.ba...@gmail.com wrote: Domin8rJ listen up buddy, wid due respect to the prev posts on this thread heres an idea for u.. u might take tym fr it but its k jus take any chap or couple of chaps frm any subject and jus create an app.. so i would b like having a chap in ur phone.. automating it in a way towards smarter education.. jus draw some sample screens on a paper,try to go thru chapters frm mark murphy's book so that screens smehw can b designed.. later on things will fall into place slowly wid event handling an all.. jus try it..any help in that matter mail me okk.. it can turn out to b very difficult for u but try it out.. its fun coding in android.. This post is an affront to the English language. - TreKing http://sites.google.com/site/rezmobileapps/treking - Chicago transit tracking app for Android-powered devices -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
+200 On Sep 7, 2012 8:57 AM, TreKing treking...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 7:33 AM, Amey Bapat amey.n.ba...@gmail.com wrote: Domin8rJ listen up buddy, wid due respect to the prev posts on this thread heres an idea for u.. u might take tym fr it but its k jus take any chap or couple of chaps frm any subject and jus create an app.. so i would b like having a chap in ur phone.. automating it in a way towards smarter education.. jus draw some sample screens on a paper,try to go thru chapters frm mark murphy's book so that screens smehw can b designed.. later on things will fall into place slowly wid event handling an all.. jus try it..any help in that matter mail me okk.. it can turn out to b very difficult for u but try it out.. its fun coding in android.. This post is an affront to the English language. - TreKing http://sites.google.com/site/rezmobileapps/treking - Chicago transit tracking app for Android-powered devices -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
well i agree its a bit difficult to understand it.. but it is ok.deal with it..!! On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 10:16 PM, Mark Phillips m...@phillipsmarketing.bizwrote: +200 On Sep 7, 2012 8:57 AM, TreKing treking...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 7:33 AM, Amey Bapat amey.n.ba...@gmail.comwrote: Domin8rJ listen up buddy, wid due respect to the prev posts on this thread heres an idea for u.. u might take tym fr it but its k jus take any chap or couple of chaps frm any subject and jus create an app.. so i would b like having a chap in ur phone.. automating it in a way towards smarter education.. jus draw some sample screens on a paper,try to go thru chapters frm mark murphy's book so that screens smehw can b designed.. later on things will fall into place slowly wid event handling an all.. jus try it..any help in that matter mail me okk.. it can turn out to b very difficult for u but try it out.. its fun coding in android.. This post is an affront to the English language. - TreKing http://sites.google.com/site/rezmobileapps/treking - Chicago transit tracking app for Android-powered devices -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- live and let LIVE!!! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 11:58 AM, Amey Bapat amey.n.ba...@gmail.com wrote: well i agree its a bit difficult to understand it.. but it is ok.deal with it..!! No, it is not OK. You make it difficult for everyone to understand what you're saying and you come off like an illiterate spammer. Instead of everyone on this group dealing with it, how about *you* learn to spell? - TreKing http://sites.google.com/site/rezmobileapps/treking - Chicago transit tracking app for Android-powered devices -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
TreKing wrote: Amey Bapat wrote: well i agree its a bit difficult to understand it.. but it is ok.deal with it..!! How arrogant. No, it is not OK. You make it difficult for everyone to understand what you're saying and you come off like an illiterate spammer. Instead of everyone on this group dealing with it, how about *you* learn to spell? I'm with TreKing on this one. It's to your own good to be professional instead of some sort of script kiddie. -- Lew -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
relax guys..!! don't stretch it too much now..!! next time will make sure i don't type in a hurry..!! On Sat, Sep 8, 2012 at 1:49 AM, Lew lewbl...@gmail.com wrote: TreKing wrote: Amey Bapat wrote: well i agree its a bit difficult to understand it.. but it is ok.deal with it..!! How arrogant. No, it is not OK. You make it difficult for everyone to understand what you're saying and you come off like an illiterate spammer. Instead of everyone on this group dealing with it, how about *you* learn to spell? I'm with TreKing on this one. It's to your own good to be professional instead of some sort of script kiddie. -- Lew -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- live and let LIVE!!! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
Kristopher Micinski wrote: I should respond to your comments with the disclosure that I am somewhat affiliated with a university (as a PhD student), currently Maryland, and have taught or TAd a few classes here. My views are from experience teaching (let's say, three or four sections, and then a section of much more advanced grad students), and my previous experience as an undergrad in TAing.. I am a software developer of long standing who's worked with Java professionally since the late 90s, worked on many large- and small- scale Java and mixed-language projects, and for the last year and a half on Android and other mobile projects. My experience is from applying programming knowledge in a real-world environment where mistakes cost money and jobs, and the problems are not artificially constrained for pedagogical purpose. In my own experience the knowledge of Java helps to learn Android, but the difficulties to which I alluded are real and do impact the learning curve. I find that a year and a half was more than I needed to understand the Java parts of the platform, but evolvingly just barely enough to understand the pragmatic aspects of actually running software that won't crash and will do what's intended. I'm sure it's much cleaner in the ivory tower. Lew wrote: Kristopher Micinski wrote: I don't think that Android is a significantly new API or programming Compared to what? Compared to the slew of APIs that undergraduates will typically see. As undergrads here (@UMD) we teach a few different environments. Oh, I thought you were comparing it to Java in other environments. - In our 100 level courses we teach standard java [sic], this includes the standard library, but may also occasionally include swing [sic] or APIs that the professors have home baked. - In our 200 level courses we teach old world unix stuff, including the posix [sic] API, and things of that nature - In the 300/400 level courses we have a variety of courses using different APIs, teaching things from OpenGL, to the .NET ecosystem, and things like that. - We also teach theory and the theory of systems and programming languages (through which we teach Ruby, OCaml, etc.., although more niche languages like Erlang are sometimes used as well) I consider that an undergraduate from our department should have enough familiarity with adjusting to different systems that they should be able to take any new language, adapt to it, along with a new API, and get productive work done without being stuck. We do have a 400 level class covering Android programming, and all of our students were able to adjust to the environment very quickly, and start getting real projects done within one month's time. environment, and if you know Java (and even if you don't, but know C++ or something similar-ish well enough) will be very easy to pick up.. You elide over the difficulties. Java is more than a language, it's an environment, and that environment is quite different between Android and other platforms. I disagree. The core standard java [sic] stuff is all there. There's a Sure, but it's the Android stuff that isn't in Core Java that makes the difference. Humans are chimpanzees, because all the core standard chimp DNA is there. separate API, sure, but the components remain the same. For example, the activity lifecycle mirrors many other state machine processes found in any of these other environments students will have seen before. Students also will (in any good computer science program) cover functional programming concepts (from this you get intents and components, which are typically fairly stateless -- though not *always*), concurrency (students will have seen things similar to AsyncTask before, as most courses -- certainly ours at UMD and those I took at my undergrad institution, along with the other courses I've reviewed from probably six other institutions -- cover concurrency and ways to make it easier), and RPC (AIDL, Messenger / Handler combos). Yes, but these are extra-Java data, so you are supporting my thesis that more than knowledge of Java is needed to be effective with Android. Courses at many universities will also typically cover GUI programming, typically in *more than one form*. For example, I believe our courses here cover wxwidgets to some extent, and also the C# GUI stuff, this fits into the more general category of reactive programming, which is covered to a larger extent in our courses on functional programming and theory. So I assume that a student should be able to take Android's GUI system off the shelf and know something about widgets (views) and things like that. Again, by learning more than Java in the first place. For example, you could go through years of standard or enterprise Java programming without every defining a UI in XML. If this
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 1:37 PM, Lew lewbl...@gmail.com wrote: Kristopher Micinski wrote: I should respond to your comments with the disclosure that I am somewhat affiliated with a university (as a PhD student), currently Maryland, and have taught or TAd a few classes here. My views are from experience teaching (let's say, three or four sections, and then a section of much more advanced grad students), and my previous experience as an undergrad in TAing.. I am a software developer of long standing who's worked with Java professionally since the late 90s, worked on many large- and small- scale Java and mixed-language projects, and for the last year and a half on Android and other mobile projects. My experience is from applying programming knowledge in a real-world environment where mistakes cost money and jobs, and the problems are not artificially constrained for pedagogical purpose. In my own experience the knowledge of Java helps to learn Android, but the difficulties to which I alluded are real and do impact the learning curve. I find that a year and a half was more than I needed to understand the Java parts of the platform, but evolvingly just barely enough to understand the pragmatic aspects of actually running software that won't crash and will do what's intended. I'm sure it's much cleaner in the ivory tower. Well, one obvious thing that's different is that within academia (I have worked in industry for a short time, by the way, as well!) is that things don't really have to work, things don't have to be 100% polished, and the professor will not go through your design completely for a final project. Even if it's a deliverable for a final project to a company, my experience with these capstone courses is that most companies simply take the code and look at it, and then send their own engineers to rewrite it anway.. Sure, but it's the Android stuff that isn't in Core Java that makes the difference. Yes, but the fundamental stuff won't change. In my experience data structures, algorithms, etc..., are the real content. If you need to represent a list of things, you can do so using the standard techniques. Students will have seen adapter classes before (for example), if you put the two together you get the necessary requirements for an Android list, for example. If you add in their courses on parallelism, the concepts they will have learned in a networking class, and others, they should be able to extrapolate this knowledge to look at the Android task code and write a lazy list that is refreshed from the network (indeed, our students did this in our android course, I believe...) Humans are chimpanzees, because all the core standard chimp DNA is there. Sure, and if you're studying biology as an undergrad, most of the stuff you need to know lies in the common knowledge. if you're programming professionally, it might not, but I'm still not convinced the difference is a real killer, I'd bet if you took someone who knew a lot about the structure of chimps, they could pick up the stuff about humans pretty easily too! separate API, sure, but the components remain the same. For example, the activity lifecycle mirrors many other state machine processes found in any of these other environments students will have seen before. Students also will (in any good computer science program) cover functional programming concepts (from this you get intents and components, which are typically fairly stateless -- though not *always*), concurrency (students will have seen things similar to AsyncTask before, as most courses -- certainly ours at UMD and those I took at my undergrad institution, along with the other courses I've reviewed from probably six other institutions -- cover concurrency and ways to make it easier), and RPC (AIDL, Messenger / Handler combos). Yes, but these are extra-Java data, so you are supporting my thesis that more than knowledge of Java is needed to be effective with Android. You need to know more than Java to program on Android because it's a separate API. This is the same with any other large Java framework out there: swing, JSP, etc.. I'm also arguing that they are extra java things, but not things that students won't have seen before: they've probably seen something 'close enough' outside of their Java courses (generally we still teach old world unix IPC, for example). Courses at many universities will also typically cover GUI programming, typically in *more than one form*. For example, I believe our courses here cover wxwidgets to some extent, and also the C# GUI stuff, this fits into the more general category of reactive programming, which is covered to a larger extent in our courses on functional programming and theory. So I assume that a student should be able to take Android's GUI system off the shelf and know something about widgets (views) and things like that. Again, by learning more than Java in the first
RE: [android-developers] School project help needed.
I had no concept of java or c++ I was a VB.net guy up until I needed to learn android. I just jumped right into Marks book as noted below and then started messing around with sample apps. If you have any programming background pickup up Java isn't hard as long as you know how to use google. If you get stuck, like I have in the past many times, ask a well thought out and detailed question to this forum and people WILL help, I have learned a lot from this forum. If you have 0 programming experience you might be in for a rough ride and you will want to make sure any project you come up with is rather basic or you may not have time to finish it. Learning how to design and layout your application is in my opinion the hardest part of android, but once you get it and figure it out it is smooth sailing from there. From: android-developers@googlegroups.com [mailto:android-developers@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Lew Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2012 3:37 PM To: android-developers@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [android-developers] School project help needed. Kristopher Micinski wrote: I don't think that Android is a significantly new API or programming Compared to what? environment, and if you know Java (and even if you don't, but know C++ or something similar-ish well enough) will be very easy to pick up.. You elide over the difficulties. Java is more than a language, it's an environment, and that environment is quite different between Android and other platforms. For example, you could go through years of standard or enterprise Java programming without every defining a UI in XML. If this is new to you, it takes some getting used to, and no amount of Java or C++ knowledge is directly applicable. If you have a year of time to do so, I'd start by doing the following: - reading the developer guide - playing with a bunch of the sample apps - perhaps buying a copy of Mark Murphy's android book (the commonsware guide) if you find yourself needing more explained examples of the API, etc... You consider a year easy to pick up? I consider three days easy to pick up. A year seems on the long end of what it should take to be competent at Android programming. -- Lew -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
Hi domin you can contact me to my mail id rambabu.mare...@gmail.com for assistance On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 8:48 AM, Domin8rJ limjunjie621...@gmail.com wrote: Hi everyone, I was asked to create an Android application for my school's final year project, but I have zero experience in this area.. had never programmed an app before.. So.. Is there any tips or tricks in this field of programming for somebody new like me? Any references sites, other good forums, videos, or just anything that would help get me started? Also, is there some sort of 'easy' ideas, that is not complicated at all, an app idea that will be easy to pick up and be completed in 12 weeks(the duration of my project), even for someone like me? I really have no idea where I can start right now. In my 3 years of study, I have dabble in very basic programming(c#/c++ and nothing else) and wasn't really very good in it, and like I mentioned above, I had never did an app before, nor had programmed anything in such a large scale(to me), so I would appreciated any help I can get.. Please let me know if this particular question had already been asked before, because if so, I am so, so sorry.. will you please provide me with the link to the right post? I would appreciate it a lot, thanks. Thanks a lot in advance. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -- Regards Rambabu Mareedu 9581411199 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 10:18 PM, Domin8rJ limjunjie621...@gmail.com wrote: Hi everyone, I was asked to create an Android application for my school's final year project, but I have zero experience in this area.. had never programmed an app before.. I have to ask why you were tasked with such an assignment as your final project if you have zero experience with it? Usually a final project is a culmination of everything you have learned in your course work, not some monumental task the student has no clue about just to watch them squirm. So.. Is there any tips or tricks in this field of programming for somebody new like me? Any references sites, other good forums, videos, or just anything that would help get me started? developer.android.com stackoverflow.com google.com Good luck. - TreKing http://sites.google.com/site/rezmobileapps/treking - Chicago transit tracking app for Android-powered devices -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 1:57 PM, TreKing treking...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 10:18 PM, Domin8rJ limjunjie621...@gmail.com wrote: Hi everyone, I was asked to create an Android application for my school's final year project, but I have zero experience in this area.. had never programmed an app before.. I have to ask why you were tasked with such an assignment as your final project if you have zero experience with it? Usually a final project is a culmination of everything you have learned in your course work, not some monumental task the student has no clue about just to watch them squirm. I disagree.. In the universities which which I've been affiliate we typically educate undergrads in traditional languages (C/C++/OCaml/Java/etc...), and using fairly standard APIs, but don't typically teach frameworks as a part of our courses. It's fairly common to ask a student as a final project to take all of these courses and then learn the framework using the knowledge they've gained over the years of their theoretical and applied coursework. I don't think that Android is a significantly new API or programming environment, and if you know Java (and even if you don't, but know C++ or something similar-ish well enough) will be very easy to pick up.. If you have a year of time to do so, I'd start by doing the following: - reading the developer guide - playing with a bunch of the sample apps - perhaps buying a copy of Mark Murphy's android book (the commonsware guide) if you find yourself needing more explained examples of the API, etc... kris -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
Kristopher Micinski wrote: I don't think that Android is a significantly new API or programming Compared to what? environment, and if you know Java (and even if you don't, but know C++ or something similar-ish well enough) will be very easy to pick up.. You elide over the difficulties. Java is more than a language, it's an environment, and that environment is quite different between Android and other platforms. For example, you could go through years of standard or enterprise Java programming without every defining a UI in XML. If this is new to you, it takes some getting used to, and no amount of Java or C++ knowledge is directly applicable. If you have a year of time to do so, I'd start by doing the following: - reading the developer guide - playing with a bunch of the sample apps - perhaps buying a copy of Mark Murphy's android book (the commonsware guide) if you find yourself needing more explained examples of the API, etc... You consider a year easy to pick up? I consider three days easy to pick up. A year seems on the long end of what it should take to be competent at Android programming. -- Lew -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 2:02 PM, Kristopher Micinski krismicin...@gmail.comwrote: I disagree.. In the universities which which I've been affiliate we typically educate undergrads in traditional languages (C/C++/OCaml/Java/etc...), and using fairly standard APIs, but don't typically teach frameworks as a part of our courses. It's fairly common to ask a student as a final project to take all of these courses and then learn the framework using the knowledge they've gained over the years of their theoretical and applied coursework. I agree with this, which is why I said a final year project would be a culmination of the student's prior work. However, the OP made these statements: I was asked to create an Android application for my school's final year project, but I have zero experience in this area.. had never programmed an app before.. I really have no idea where I can start right now. In my 3 years of study, I have dabble in very basic programming(c#/c++ and nothing else) and wasn't really very good in it I had never did an app before, nor had programmed anything in such a large scale(to me) So, from what I gathered, in 3 years the OP has dabbled in just two languages - C# and C++ - and was not good at it, and has apparently no experience with Java or Android. A typical Comp Sci student will have more than dabbled in various languages by the 3rd year and one would hope would be a little more than good at it. Thus, without more information about what the OP *has* studied and knows, I can only conclude that they are ill-prepared for the task they've been given. Which is why I question why they'd be given such a task. - TreKing http://sites.google.com/site/rezmobileapps/treking - Chicago transit tracking app for Android-powered devices -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
So, from what I gathered, in 3 years the OP has dabbled in just two languages - C# and C++ - and was not good at it, and has apparently no experience with Java or Android. A typical Comp Sci student will have more than dabbled in various languages by the 3rd year and one would hope would be a little more than good at it. Maybe, but I'm not convinced :-)... I would suspect that this is pretty typical, write some code, enough to pass the exam or projects, and then call it quits. such is life... kris -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Android Developers group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
Re: [android-developers] School project help needed.
Lew, I should respond to your comments with the disclosure that I am somewhat affiliated with a university (as a PhD student), currently Maryland, and have taught or TAd a few classes here. My views are from experience teaching (let's say, three or four sections, and then a section of much more advanced grad students), and my previous experience as an undergrad in TAing.. On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 3:37 PM, Lew lewbl...@gmail.com wrote: Kristopher Micinski wrote: I don't think that Android is a significantly new API or programming Compared to what? Compared to the slew of APIs that undergraduates will typically see. As undergrads here (@UMD) we teach a few different environments. - In our 100 level courses we teach standard java, this includes the standard library, but may also occasionally include swing or APIs that the professors have home baked. - In our 200 level courses we teach old world unix stuff, including the posix API, and things of that nature - In the 300/400 level courses we have a variety of courses using different APIs, teaching things from OpenGL, to the .NET ecosystem, and things like that. - We also teach theory and the theory of systems and programming languages (through which we teach Ruby, OCaml, etc.., although more niche languages like Erlang are sometimes used as well) I consider that an undergraduate from our department should have enough familiarity with adjusting to different systems that they should be able to take any new language, adapt to it, along with a new API, and get productive work done without being stuck. We do have a 400 level class covering Android programming, and all of our students were able to adjust to the environment very quickly, and start getting real projects done within one month's time. environment, and if you know Java (and even if you don't, but know C++ or something similar-ish well enough) will be very easy to pick up.. You elide over the difficulties. Java is more than a language, it's an environment, and that environment is quite different between Android and other platforms. I disagree. The core standard java stuff is all there. There's a separate API, sure, but the components remain the same. For example, the activity lifecycle mirrors many other state machine processes found in any of these other environments students will have seen before. Students also will (in any good computer science program) cover functional programming concepts (from this you get intents and components, which are typically fairly stateless -- though not *always*), concurrency (students will have seen things similar to AsyncTask before, as most courses -- certainly ours at UMD and those I took at my undergrad institution, along with the other courses I've reviewed from probably six other institutions -- cover concurrency and ways to make it easier), and RPC (AIDL, Messenger / Handler combos). Courses at many universities will also typically cover GUI programming, typically in *more than one form*. For example, I believe our courses here cover wxwidgets to some extent, and also the C# GUI stuff, this fits into the more general category of reactive programming, which is covered to a larger extent in our courses on functional programming and theory. So I assume that a student should be able to take Android's GUI system off the shelf and know something about widgets (views) and things like that. For example, you could go through years of standard or enterprise Java programming without every defining a UI in XML. If this is new to you, it takes some getting used to, and no amount of Java or C++ knowledge is directly applicable. This might be the case, in practice the way we explained it to students within our Android course was saying: think of this as being compiled to some code which produces equivalent Java code which sets up the GUI, or as a templated language. I know this is just one example, but I would argue that similar things in Android can be explained by analogy to other concepts, once students learn enough material and get a feel for the space. Now, it's entirely possible that students at other universities may be extremely different than the ones I've encountered, but I would suspect that this isn't entirely off base. If you have a year of time to do so, I'd start by doing the following: - reading the developer guide - playing with a bunch of the sample apps - perhaps buying a copy of Mark Murphy's android book (the commonsware guide) if you find yourself needing more explained examples of the API, etc... You consider a year easy to pick up? No, the year came from the OP's discussion that he will be working on the project for a year. I did not mean to imply that it would take a year to learn the Android ecosystem, it does not. I consider three days easy to pick up. A year seems on the long end of what it should take to be competent at Android programming. I would say that by my estimates, it would probably
