Posts tagged Java

How I taught myself Android Application Development

Jun 19th

I’ve learned every programming language that I’ve used during my career reusing concepts I already knew and referring to documentation and books to learn its syntax. It’s been a while since I’ve learned my last one. I’m pretty sure that everybody heard the now classic advice from the Pragmatic Programmer: “Learn at least one new programming language a year!” I was postponing/avoiding this advice for the right opportunity to come. Sometime in April, when I was at home on parental leave, I’ve stumbled upon Si.mobil’s Prize Competition¹ looking for fresh Android Applications. Looks like mobile applications are all the rage these days, so to speak. Diving into mobile development can have a long and hard learning curve, since it requires knowledge of advanced programming languages like Java and Objective C. Although I had only 4 weeks ’till the end of the competition, I’ve decided to give Android a try. In less than a month I’ve managed to learn Android² and create an interesting application with a cute name “KjeSeRoka“. I haven’t won the first prize³, but my application was interesting enough to impress the evaluation committee and I ended up amongst the top 10.

Programming in a fresh, unknown language can be very frustrating, but successfully completing an application can be equally⁴ satisfying. The most important fact is to never give up if you don’t understand a concept at first – the best way is to keep learning and/or trying. Knowing one programming language may be good enough, but knowing four or five is much better. So my next step is to learn Objective C and port “KjeSeRoka” to it. To finish my thought – as of now I’m available for Android Application Development and if you have a challenging project, feel free to contact me. I’m interested in cooperation, partnering, sharing ideas and my services are, obviously, for hire too.

And remember, contributions earn you karma ;)