Beginning Programmer Interested in Android - Should I Start with Java?

Question

I'm a beginner in programming. My experience so far is only in Actionscript 2 and 3. So I have a basic understanding of declaring variables, loops, arrays, if/then, do/while... I'm wanting to move to developing for Android phones so I'm wondering what suggestions people have for where to go next. Should I jump right to Android? Start with a 'beginning Java' approach? Or should I go some other route to beef up my knowledge of OOP concepts before launching into Android? I have my Dev environment set up and completed the Hello Android tutorial and I'm just wondering if I am going to be in over my head quickly?

Answer 1

definitely nail down java syntax, so as little as possible confuses you in android development. android has some interesting objects to say the least--and their names don't hold traditional data structure names that you would be used to seeing. so, again, master the syntax, write some apps, then think about diving into android.

Answer 2

Yep, I'd say you need to learn java properly, and doing it exclusively through android is probably not the quickest approach. Try working your way through a recently published (it is essential that it covers generics) Java introduction book, then take on Android.

Answer 3

I'm just wondering if I am going to be in over my head quickly?

Almost without a doubt. ^_^

My suggestion: Buy two books from Amazon.com

1. An Android development book. Work through every example in this book, do the problems at the ends of the chapters, take your time, understand what you're doing.
2. Buy an up-to-date Java book. Use it for reference when the Android book discusses something you don't understand.

This is very similar to what I did years ago to learn Obj-C and Mac development and it worked well. It will take you longer to get up to speed than diving into development and hacking something together, but at the end of the day you'll have a much better understanding of the principals and intricacies of writing code for the Android platform.

I should also mention my reasoning behind suggesting you buy books instead of using free Google results. Books are structured and highly edited. Assuming the author(s) are competent, a decent book will teach you what you need to know and leave out details that are either unimportant or more advanced that what you strictly need. It's difficult to impossible to find that level of structure in an online tutorial.

Answer 4

Android would be trial by fire. If you continue directly in Android, choose a few more simple hello world with bells on types of project. With ActionScript you were learning both a language and the platform, and switching to Android means learning a new language and very different platform. Most of the assumptions you acquired learning Flash will be wrong in Android.

Answer 5

I began learning Android with an understanding of JavaScript from front end web development. I grabbed the Wrox Android book and used the tutorials at http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/index.html to help me through the Java parts. I suggest diving head first into Android and going back to Java reference/tutorials where needed.