What's the learning curve for Android?

Question

What has people's experience been in learning Android?

I'd be interested in how long it takes to get to the point where you're writing your first app, and how the experience compares to learning some other programming API.

I know several professional programmers who have tried to learn Android and failed. Is it inherently more difficult or larger than you might expect? But there's a survey here http://www.infoq.com/news/2010/07/Mobile-Survey that claims Android has the shortest learning curve of all smartphone platforms. I wonder how the survey guys could have got such a perverse and unlikely result.

I have my own views and observations on this, which I'll mention as a dialog develops. I don't want to bias the discussion with my perspective at this point. Thanks.

Peter

Answer 1

To grasp the fundementals, all you need to do is know Java. However, what makes Android a little tougher (this is both a strength and a weakness) is that they have a fairly large API and it is a lot to take in and try to memorize. It helps to use a good IDE that has intellisense and autocomplete. Their powerful API is an advantage though because you can do a lot of things with Android. Things that may not even be possible on other mobile platforms.

Answer 2

I just finished a fairly large Android project as a university project (2-3 month length). It was a Client-Server navigation system, Client=Android, Server=C# Web Service.
Just follow this installation guide, and the Hello, World tutorial you will be able to have your first android app within the hour.

I don't know how professional these programmers were, if they failed at a somewhat simple task. (Simple meaning learning the basics of Android)

PS. I am assuming you have some programming experience and knowledge in Java. Otherwise, I would start there.

Answer 3

Well, I'm working on an app for a final that that should be done within a month. Java was the main language taught at the university, but quite honestly, Android API is so large its practically its own language that uses Java syntax conventions.

The only reasons its been a little difficult for me is because this is the first app I'm doing, so I never really laid everything out to build in order, I'm just taking the ideas as they come. This is my fault though.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but if I dont find Android programming to be difficult, I cant imagine these developers gave it much effort, or their just one trick ponies.

But to directly answer your question: The learning curve is what you make of it. If you apply yourself and your serious about getting an app out, and dont give up when you cant grasp something the first time around, its just like learning a second programming language. You already know all the computer science basics, you just need to put it in a new context.