Anyone familiar with Java Programming in Eclipse for Android? Xamarin?

hasan.intisar97 · March 23, 2013

Right now a sophomore in High School I am familiar with Visual Basic, Javascript, HTML & CSS, Python, and a small amount of C#. Next year my internship will be developing Android Applications. I installed Eclipse with all the Android SDKs and am a total beginner so was pretty lost. I'm going to start off by watching tutorials from TheNewBoston because that is how I start learning every language Code Academy doesn't offer. My question is, has anyone done Android development with either Java inside Eclipse or inside C# using Xamarin? What is something you believe a beginner must learn in order to be fluent in making applications? And if anyone has used Xamarin do you think it is worth dropping the money on the licence?

MrPG8 · March 23, 2013

If you're already familiar with C# you won't find it hard to learn Java. They aren't very different. I wouldn't recommend xamarin for a beginner (i have never used it), just because you need the basics to get started even if you're using a third party framework to develop. Watching tutorials is a great way to get started, i personally find it the best to actually make something that you publish to play. I doesn't have to be anything special the point is to make your app from the beginning to the end. A major benefit of this is that you will have a reference that you can show off on a future job interview.

Other than that, all I can say is to practice a lot.

MikeD · March 24, 2013

First of all, as MrPG8 said, if you know C# you should be ok with Java. I have also never used Xamarin.

Secondly, why would you buy anything at all if you have free tools that were meant to be used together specifically to program for Android?

Also, if you use the eclipse bundled with androids sdk you can learn from all the included samples that work off the bat.

I recommend you follow the android developers tutorial available at [url=https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html]https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html[/url=https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html] because that really is the most fundamental stuff you need to know to start making apps.

Tomski · March 27, 2013

I personally have used Eclipse, obviously with ADT, and It is perfect. Its really useful to have inbuilt emulators and great support for debugging live onto any droid device you have, and I would say the interfaces are easy to get used to and can make developing pretty speedy. I cant speak for Xamarin, but I agree with Mike. If you are a decent programmer with C#, and have familiarity with the basics of mobile phone applications, you can start messing around with applications right away. From then onwards, its as easy as making any other application.

Arndroid · March 29, 2013

Android for Eclipse has some IDE bugs combined, but I wouldn't want to use anything else at this moment.

Android is a nice, easy and fun language to code with.

TheNewBoston will show you very basic stuff, not always properly, but very useful for a beginner.

You'll learn the structure of Android, from there you'll be good to go. :)

eggied97 · March 30, 2013

Android for Eclipse has some IDE bugs combined' date=' but I wouldn't want to use anything else at this moment. Android is a nice, easy and fun language to code with. TheNewBoston will show you very basic stuff, not always properly, but very useful for a beginner. You'll learn the structure of Android, from there you'll be good to go. :) [/quote']
android is NOT a language.

you make the looks and the the layout with XML, and all the nice stuff happens in JAVA.

but is is fun though ;p

hasan.intisar97 · April 2, 2013

Update: I found Java pretty easy to use and had no problem messing around with it making a GUI-less calculator. Then I got the Android SDKs and I'm confused but after some messing around I will probably figure it out. Thanks for the responses!