This is the source for an Android development class taught in Philadelphia, PA for the Women in Tech Summit Northeast. Slides and materials are hosted at http://audreytroutt.com/android-beginners-onehour/.
If you are looking for online classes or resources for learning similar material, check out these:
- Google's Android Training specifically, Building your First App (free)
- Udacity's Developing Android Apps (free)
And for getting started with Java, I recommend:
- Head First Java, 2nd Edition by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates
- Udemy's Java Tutorial for Complete Beginners (free)
This is a short introduction to app development on Android. By the end of this workshop you will be able to modify and run an Android app from source!
Since we only have an hour we will only be able to learn about the basic anatomy of Android apps and learn how to connect different screens together with Android Intents.
With the extra materials provided you can continue after the workshop to learn about using APIs, authenticating users, integrating the camera into your app, modifying images, and about testing and refactoring your app code.
You should be curious and excited to learn about how apps are built. You should be prepared to face challenges and have some fun along the way. You are not expected to have any previous Android or even Java experience for this class. However, to move things along it would help if this wasn't your very first introduction to programming in general.
You should have:
(a) taken an intro programming class, or
(b) be familiar with programming concepts like variables, methods, classes, arrays, conditionals, and loops.
- Bring your laptop (Mac or Linux strongly preferred) with a power cable.
- Download and install Android Studio http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
- Once Android Studio is installed, go to the Android SDK Manager inside Android Studio (Tools -> Android -> SDK Manager) and check two things:
- Under the "SDK Platforms" tab check that Android 7.0 (Nougat) API 24 is installed or download if needed.
- Then in the "SDK Tools" tab on that screen download the Support Repository / Android Support Repository if not already installed.
- Download the code for this class
- Go to https://github.com/hasaudrey/android-beginners-tune/
- On the top right press "Clone or download" and click "Download ZIP" or get the clone url to git clone
- On your computer, open the zip files with your favorite unzip program and put the 'android-beginners' folder somewhere you can find it later. If you are git cloning, then you are all set.
- This repo contains the source for the app we will be using in this class in addition to these slides.
- Try to launch the app in Android studio:
- Choose to "Open an existing Android Studio project" (Or go to File -> New -> Import Project)
- Choose the AndroidBeginnersFirstApp folder on your computer
- Nice to have an Android phone with Android Jellybean (4.1-4.3), KitKat (4.4), Lollipop (5.x), or Marshmallow (6.x)
- Don't forget a USB cable to connect your device to your laptop
- Enable developer options on your device to be able to connect with your computer. Instructions: http://www.androidauthority.com/enable-developer-options-569223/
Audrey Troutt is a software development manager for the In-App Marketing, App Store Analytics, and SDK teams at Tune and is based in Philadelphia, PA. Previously Audrey was the Director of Mobile at SnipSnap and, before that, lead Android and iOS SDK development at Artisan Mobile in Philadelphia. In addition to being a polyglot programmer and full-stack developer with seven years experience, Audrey is passionate about clean code, beautiful mobile apps, automation and vibrant communities.