How to Dive into Android

Introduction

Android Programing

Recently I dived or rather scuba dived into android. Around three months ago I knew practically nothing about android as far as app development was concerned. Just installing Android Studio on Ubuntu seemed a daunting task. Once the installation was done, looking at the interface of android studio kind of scared me. Around 30 days of resource and knowledge gathering  and I was good to go. 60 days latter I had written a entire app having an interface as good as Whatsapp, OCR and database. In case, you wish for the code, it will be released soon.

Prerequisites

If you are a beginner here's what you would need to know:

• Java Programing 
• And a little bit more of Java Programing :-P

The only requisite for Android Programing is a little bit of Java. The UI of an android application is usually written in xml. While the actual coding is done in Java.  If you don't know Java I suggest reading the following resources:

• Head First Java : Read just the basics.
• Complete Reference Java: Don't even bother reading it completely, not necessary. This is more of a Reference book that often comes handy.

If you find this book, Learning Java just blindly look some where else. This book is highly unorganized and sucks. I did read this book, and find it a total waste of time.

IDE

If you are new to android, just blindly ignore any resource, tutorial or book that teaches android programing using eclipse IDE and ADT. It is outdated and no longer in use. You will waste time learning the interface of eclipse for Android and regret it later. Android Studio is the way to go.

Operating System

I recommend Linux Ubuntu the community is great and Ubuntu14.04( I haven't upgraded to 16.04) is faster than Windows 10 based upon my tests.

A Ubuntu 14.04, 2.5 GB ram, 1.8*2 Dual Core Pentium Desktop computer running LXDE as desktop environment is just a little bit slower than an dual core i5 , 4GB ram, Windows 10 laptop.

This largely because Android Studio requires considerable amount of ram and LXDE is extremely light on RAM while Windows 10 on the other hand is RAM hungry. In case you are planning on buying a new machine and are planning to learn android, RAM matters more than the processor.

Resources

Books

These are the Books that I read and recommend. These books use Android Studio and not Eclipse. But are not fit to be reference books. For reference just use Android Documentation by Google. It updates with every new version of Android, unlike books which get outdated. As a matter of fact most books out there are outdated.

• Android Programming by Big Nerd Ranching
• Head First Android Develoment

 Tutorials

• Robert Bucky's Videos on YouTube are a good stepping stone.

Blogs

I read no blog in particular. Whenever I was stuck I google searched and there would always be a blog waiting to teach me. There are a large number of good bloggers out there.

Stack Overflow

When you are stuck with any kind of issue in any damn language here's where you should visit. Chances are someone already faced the same issue.

Android Developers Documentation

This is the resource that matters the most. This is the official resource to be used as a reference. Whenever you are using some class always make sure to read the documentation to get optimum results and better codes.


Let the diving begin!!!!