Get Started Developing for Android with Eclipse
Ray Tayek
here’s a lot to get excited about in mobile
application development today. With increasingly
sophisticated hardware, tablet PCs and a variety
of software platforms (Symbian OS, iOS, WebOS,
Windows Phone 7…), the landscape for mobile
developers is full of opportunities and a little complex as well.
So much choice can be overwhelming when you just
want to get started building mobile applications.
Which platform should you choose? What
programming language should you learn? What kit
do you need for your planned project? In this
tutorial, you’ll learn how to start writing
applications for <http://android.com/>Android,
the open-source mobile operating system popularized by Google.
[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that we are
publishing a Smashing eBook Series? The brand new
eBook #3 is
<https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/smashingbook-dispatcher.php?d=smashing-ebook-mastering-photoshop>Mastering
Photoshop For Web Design, written by our Photoshop-expert Thomas Giannattasio.]
Why Develop for Android?
Android is an open-source platform based on the
Linux kernel, and is installed on
<http://mashable.com/2010/09/16/android-comscore-july-2010/>thousands
of devices from a wide range of manufacturers.
Android exposes your application to all sorts of
hardware that you’ll find in modern mobile
devices digital compasses, video cameras, GPS, orientation sensors, and more.
Android’s free development tools make it possible
for you to start writing software at little or no
cost. When you’re ready to show off your
application to the world, you can publish it to
Google’s Android Market. Publishing to Android
Market incurs a one-off registration fee (US $25
at the time of writing) and, unlike Apple’s App
Store which famously reviews each submission,
makes your application available for customers to
download and buy after a quick review process
unless the application is blatantly illegal.
Here are a few other advantages Android offers you as a developer: ...
---
co-chair http://ocjug.org/
Jeffrey Peacock
On your path to becoming a spokesperson for Apple and iOS you missed a
few things:
1) You can load 3rd party ROMs onto your phone
(http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=668090) and you can
hack the Android source and load it onto your phone or other devices.
(http://thegadgets.net/technology-news/how-to-run-android-on-windows-7-no-live-cd-required/).
These are just 2 examples. There are more. Not an end-user recommended
experience but important in the discussion and acceptance of the
technology. Today's modified ROM may be tomorrows mainstream innovation.
2) The review process at Apple is reported to descriminate against apps
for a variety of reasons: some censorship, some compete with Apple or
its preferred vendors. "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves
neither. -- Franklin"
3) Developing for iPhone is expensive in recurring fees and equip.
costs. Objective-C is not the 1/2-way there no-brainer you assert. And
now your Mac likely isn't going to be much use for Java development either.
4) Fragmentation is not anywhere near what it was for Java
implementation on handsets before Android.
5) More handsets mean more consumer choices, more consumers, and more
opportunity for developers. In this case it is approx. to democracy vs.
benevolent dictatorship.
6) And clearly you've never developed extensively for handsets. Access
to the source is invaluable! I can't tell you how much of my life has
been wasted trying to get something to work on a handset by
experimentation where 10 minutes in the source code would explain the
behavior I was getting.
/J
On 10/25/2010 03:18 PM, Andreas Schaefer wrote:
> The one thing that amazes me with Android is the fact that everyone talks about Android as the open-source version of the closed-sourced iOS. But I don't want to go into any discussion of what is or isn't open-source but from my point of view Android is not open-source or let's say it otherwise it does not matter. This is true the same way as I would not care if IBM would release or open-source the Mainframe OS. Maybe with the exception of Nexus One there is no way that I can build and install Android on a Phone (as far as I know). Which means that as a customer I am at the wimp of the Carriers and they can do a lot with it and Google did play along with it.
>
> In contrast I can install Linux on any PC (and that since 1990 when I did it the first time) and still can although I never tried it on a Mac (intel based) and why would I.
>
> Of course the article below did not mention that developing for Android you might have to deal with 200+ different handsets and up to a 100 different Android versions (http://blog.tweetdeck.com/android-ecosystem). I have already problems to deal with iOS 3 and 4 but that sounds crazy even though the differences are not as big as between iOS 3 and 4.
>
> Finally Apple's App store is all about User experience and not about developers and that is why the review process is in place. In the past I did not agree with Apple review process from a developers point of view but from a users point of view it was positive. Again I am not here to defend Apple but from my personal point of view (especially as a user) I would bet my money on the iPhone rather than on Android (at least for now) and if you really know Java then you are already half way there on Object-C.
>
> Cheers
>
> Andreas Schaefer
>
> On Oct 25, 2010, at 2:43 PM, Ray Tayek wrote:
>
>
>> http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/25/get-started-developing-for-android-with-eclipse/
>>
>>
>> here�s a lot to get excited about in mobile application development today. With increasingly sophisticated hardware, tablet PCs and a variety of software platforms (Symbian OS, iOS, WebOS, Windows Phone 7�), the landscape for mobile developers is full of opportunities and a little complex as well.
>>
>> So much choice can be overwhelming when you just want to get started building mobile applications. Which platform should you choose? What programming language should you learn? What kit do you need for your planned project? In this tutorial, you�ll learn how to start writing applications for<http://android.com/>Android, the open-source mobile operating system popularized by Google.
>>
>> [Offtopic: by the way, did you know that we are publishing a Smashing eBook Series? The brand new eBook #3 is<https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/smashingbook-dispatcher.php?d=smashing-ebook-mastering-photoshop>Mastering Photoshop For Web Design, written by our Photoshop-expert Thomas Giannattasio.]
>>
>>
>> Why Develop for Android?
>>
>> Android is an open-source platform based on the Linux kernel, and is installed on<http://mashable.com/2010/09/16/android-comscore-july-2010/>thousands of devices from a wide range of manufacturers. Android exposes your application to all sorts of hardware that you�ll find in modern mobile devices digital compasses, video cameras, GPS, orientation sensors, and more.
>>
>> Android�s free development tools make it possible for you to start writing software at little or no cost. When you�re ready to show off your application to the world, you can publish it to Google�s Android Market. Publishing to Android Market incurs a one-off registration fee (US $25 at the time of writing) and, unlike Apple�s App Store which famously reviews each submission, makes your application available for customers to download and buy after a quick review process unless the application is blatantly illegal.
>>
>> Here are a few other advantages Android offers you as a developer: ...
>>
>> ---
>> co-chair http://ocjug.org/
>>
>>
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>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: ocjug-un...@ocjug.org
>> For additional commands, e-mail: ocjug...@ocjug.org
>>
>>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: ocjug-un...@ocjug.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: ocjug...@ocjug.org
>
>
Jeffrey Peacock
You failed to keep my interest right about here:
> Didn't we learn with the PC that choices are not good for the consumer. Many hardcore developer tell me that they finally bought their parents / grand parents a Mac so that they don't have to maintain their PC all the time.
Specifically: "...choices are not good for the consumer."
Even with my vast, nearly unlimited knowledge of the Universe --- passed
on to me by my uncle Jor-El in a set of wacky new-age crystals -- I
don't even know where to begin to "refudiate" (that I got from the
world's most informed politician; I assume it mean the same as
"repudiate") this statement.
If you feel you can recover/refactor that statement into something a
little less Mussolini'ish then I'm all ears. Notwithstanding that it is
nice to be able to buy a Mac for your elders, the logic put forth, as a
condition that it should be generally adopted, is deeply flawed. Have
you gotten an early start on the anticipated passing of Prop 19?
Further,
1 - answers itself
2 - Thank God you are free to trust Apple. Let Steve know you're
avail. when he needs his next liver.
3 - Fees are recurring; "specialized" equip is also expensive.
4 - This is the price of choices but it is being managed rather well.
5 - Bad documentation is not a condition limited to Open Source
projects. The publisher tells you what they want you to know or think
you need to know. Not all side effects -- some call these bugs -- are
known or discussed openly. The case I was thinking of specifically had
to do with BlackBerry.
All hail the iPhone as a final point of all cell phone evolution!
Yeah, I'm not seeing this ending well for you. Or at least any better
than it did for MacOS developers.
/J
On 10/25/2010 04:39 PM, Andreas Schaefer wrote:
> Well,
>
>
>> 1) You can load 3rd party ROMs onto your phone (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=668090) and you can hack the Android source and load it onto your phone or other devices. (http://thegadgets.net/technology-news/how-to-run-android-on-windows-7-no-live-cd-required/). These are just 2 examples. There are more. Not an end-user recommended experience but important in the discussion and acceptance of the technology. Today's modified ROM may be tomorrows mainstream innovation.
>>
> And what is this good for? I bet that the Carrier will make sure that this is not going to happen if they can prevent it.
>
>
>> 2) The review process at Apple is reported to descriminate against apps for a variety of reasons: some censorship, some compete with Apple or its preferred vendors. "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither. -- Franklin"
>>
> Not sure what you mean. Yes, the review process was bad, is not better but still not from perfect but the Google model sacrifices user experience for market share. Google went into bed with the Carriers whereas Apple took the harder route to maintain the control over the platform and I trust Apple more than any Carrier.
>
>
>> 3) Developing for iPhone is expensive in recurring fees and equip. costs. Objective-C is not the 1/2-way there no-brainer you assert. And now your Mac likely isn't going to be much use for Java development either.
>>
> 100 bucks for the Developer membership which has a ton of developer help as well as how many developer already have a Mac. Finally you can kick Sun / Oracle for this misery.
> BTW I said people how now Java well. As it is true everywhere the language is the easy part but the framework is the difficult part which is true for Object-C and Cocoa touch.
>
>
>> 4) Fragmentation is not anywhere near what it was for Java implementation on handsets before Android.
>>
> But it is still way too much compared to iOS.
>
>
>> 5) More handsets mean more consumer choices, more consumers, and more opportunity for developers. In this case it is approx. to democracy vs. benevolent dictatorship.
>>
> Didn't we learn with the PC that choices are not good for the consumer. Many hardcore developer tell me that they finally bought their parents / grand parents a Mac so that they don't have to maintain their PC all the time.
>
>
>> 6) And clearly you've never developed extensively for handsets. Access to the source is invaluable! I can't tell you how much of my life has been wasted trying to get something to work on a handset by experimentation where 10 minutes in the source code would explain the behavior I was getting.
>>
> That is only needed if there the docu is missing, outdated or plain wrong which is true for many open-source projects. Yes, sometimes I wished I would have the code to the iOS but more than often I am just blown away by the quality of the docu and the additional material like WWDC presentation.
>
> -Andy
Jeffrey Peacock
"...killing each other."? Really? You praise my prose more than it
deserves.
I don't think I mentioned Nazi's -- Jor-El was Superman's father.
Perhaps you are drawing a relationship between Nietzsche -- "Thus Spoke
Zarathustra" introduces the concept of the "overman" also termed the
"superman" -- and the widely held belief that he heavily influenced
Hitler's "Mein Kampf". An obscure reference to be sure but I checked my
email an didn't see any Nazi references.
In any case, if you send an email expressing basically "I'm happy the
trains run on time. Isn't it neat and we should all do it this way
because it's very wise.", some of us may see the parallel to historical
events, whether they be technology or otherwise. Notwithstanding my
clever reference to a persistent urban myth that Mussolini made the
trains run on time -- effective because people believe it would be
characteristic of such a government -- is simple poetic license. There
is a completely capitalist argument that markets without choices are not
competitive, and therefore not real markets. But that argument is
sooooo dry sleepy, and I write to keep myself awake when I realize that
the insanity of "Let's all get behind iPhones." cannot go unanswered.
And finally, I don't see the expression of ideas wrapped in some poor
creative writing, as the killing of a discussion.
/J
On 10/25/2010 05:36 PM, Andreas Schaefer wrote:
> Sorry, I just forgot that one cannot have a grown-up discussion sharing ideas and opinions without killing each other.
>
> Of course, I meant to say 'TOO MANY CHOICES' and not choices otherwise we would not have this discussion. Lately many consumers discovered that sometimes it is better to invest some money to get good product and that all these choices lead to mediocre products.
>
> BTW I don't like the usage of all these Nazi paraphernalia and just don't see the point of how Mussolini got into this discussion.
>
> Andreas Schaefer
Jim White
>
> "...killing each other."? Really? You praise my prose more than it
> deserves.
>
> I don't think I mentioned Nazi's -- Jor-El was Superman's father.
> Perhaps you are drawing a relationship between Nietzsche -- "Thus Spoke
> Zarathustra" introduces the concept of the "overman" also termed the
> "superman" -- and the widely held belief that he heavily influenced
> Hitler's "Mein Kampf". An obscure reference to be sure but I checked my
> email an didn't see any Nazi references.
> ...
Uhhhh, how about the Mussolini reference? He was a key figure in
Fascism and Leader of the Italian National Socialist Party, popularly
known as Nazis. It isn't all that obscure that the term "Nazi" is
derived from the Italian word "Nazionale".
Please don't construe this comment as being relevant to the substance of
the discussion's topic, whatever that may have been...
Jim