Programming Mobile

[heisenberg]

So with the growing technology, I am wanting to start programming apps for fun and a challenge. I have become incredibly lazy and I want to break out of that cycle so I have set myself a challenge to learn a programming language, but I want to write a mobile app. Where should I start? It seems that you can make one in visual basic.net or you need to learn Java to compile one? Which one is better for beginners?

 

[Overmind One]

So with the growing technology, I am wanting to start programming apps for fun and a challenge. I have become incredibly lazy and I want to break out of that cycle so I have set myself a challenge to learn a programming language, but I want to write a mobile app. Where should I start? It seems that you can make one in visual basic.net or you need to learn Java to compile one? Which one is better for beginners?

Java is easier. But if you want to code for mobile, each OS platform has a complete Developer's kit which is already loaded with Java snippets and phone/tablet emulators and authoring tools which allow you to graphically manipulate your app elements and have the SDK write the code for you. Android coding has it's own SDK and so does Apple (and Apple's is not free). You will also have to pay for a developer's license which for Android is only $25.00. Apple's is more than $100. Both the developer's kits also allow you to upload into the Play Store or the App Store.

To answer your first question about where to start, get Eclipse. It allows you to plug in the various developer modules.

 

[PussyGalore]

So with the growing technology, I am wanting to start programming apps for fun and a challenge. I have become incredibly lazy and I want to break out of that cycle so I have set myself a challenge to learn a programming language, but I want to write a mobile app. Where should I start? It seems that you can make one in visual basic.net or you need to learn Java to compile one? Which one is better for beginners?

What kind of app are you going to create?

 

[Joelist]

Visual Studio is still considered the best of breed among the IDEs:

https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/community/

You could then use your choice of language - and yes Visual Basic.net is far better for beginners.

 

[Overmind One]

Visual Studio is still considered the best of breed among the IDEs:

https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/community/

You could then use your choice of language - and yes Visual Basic.net is far better for beginners.

Yes, true. But Java is still the preferred mobile programming language, isn't it?

 

[Joelist]

Not necessarily. Visual Basic.net does everything Java does and is more intuitive. And Visual Studio compiles to native machine code for iOs and/or Android as well as OSX and Windows. Even some Linux distros.

 

[Overmind One]

Not necessarily. Visual Basic.net does everything Java does and is more intuitive. And Visual Studio compiles to native machine code for iOs and/or Android as well as OSX and Windows. Even some Linux distros.

The Eclipse/Java environment is easier to use than VB Studio IMO. It has more plugins and tools and is far more widely used in mobile applications.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

So with the growing technology, I am wanting to start programming apps for fun and a challenge. I have become incredibly lazy and I want to break out of that cycle so I have set myself a challenge to learn a programming language, but I want to write a mobile app. Where should I start? It seems that you can make one in visual basic.net or you need to learn Java to compile one? Which one is better for beginners?

How intriguing! I actually find myself in the exact same situation. Since I have a decent phone now I thought why not try to do something for it. So far, I've downloaded and installed Android Studio. I tried the starting tutorial however and immediately hit a wall because it seems the built-in Android emulator won't work. I haven't been able to figure out what the problem is or invest significant time and energy into it.

I am not aware of any developer fees. Android Studio is free. It uses Java by the way, which in itself is not an extremely difficult language to get into. Although there are probably easier languages, there are definitely far harder ones.

 

[Joelist]

Visual Studio is likewise free in the Community Edition, which is all one needs for this type of programming. Eclipse is also free and generally okay but its more recent builds have had glitches.

 

[Overmind One]

How intriguing! I actually find myself in the exact same situation. Since I have a decent phone now I thought why not try to do something for it. So far, I've downloaded and installed Android Studio. I tried the starting tutorial however and immediately hit a wall because it seems the built-in Android emulator won't work. I haven't been able to figure out what the problem is or invest significant time and energy into it.

I am not aware of any developer fees. Android Studio is free. It uses Java by the way, which in itself is not an extremely difficult language to get into. Although there are probably easier languages, there are definitely far harder ones.

The Google Developer license was $25.00 last time I checked (just checked again, it's still $25.00). I have one myself. Apple charges a lot more. Get your Developer license here:

https://play.google.com/apps/publish/signup/

You need to use a Google account for it, and anything you develop using the Kit or Eclipse can then be uploaded directly into the Play Store when you are done with it.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

The Google Developer license was $25.00 last time I checked (just checked again, it's still $25.00). I have one myself. Apple charges a lot more. Get your Developer license here:

https://play.google.com/apps/publish/signup/

You need to use a Google account for it, and anything you develop using the Kit or Eclipse can then be uploaded directly into the Play Store when you are done with it.

But they offer the dev software for free. And anything written in it would be property of the writer. So where do these licences come in? Is it just a fee in order to be allowed to publish your apps on the play store? In that case you could just get a license if and when you have something suitable for publishing.

Or you could build an app and distribute it outside of the play store. Although that might not be a sensible option.

 

[Overmind One]

But they offer the dev software for free. And anything written in it would be property of the writer. So where do these licences come in? Is it just a fee in order to be allowed to publish your apps on the play store? In that case you could just get a license if and when you have something suitable for publishing.

Or you could build an app and distribute it outside of the play store. Although that might not be a sensible option.

Yes, the bolded. The developer kits are free, yes. I set mine up with Eclipse and then installed the Android Developer kit which will sense your Eclipse install and tell it to fetch the Android plugins. Eclipse is more technical, and seems harder to use. I started playing around with it but could not come up with any idea to make an app, so I have not done more.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

Yes, the bolded. The developer kits are free, yes. I set mine up with Eclipse and then installed the Android Developer kit which will sense your Eclipse install and tell it to fetch the Android plugins. Eclipse is more technical, and seems harder to use. I started playing around with it but could not come up with any idea to make an app, so I have not done more.

You could try looking at some simple games you might enjoy and try to replicate one and perhaps tweak the concept a bit to make it more to your liking or more of a challenge to develop.

 

[Joelist]

The fee (both that of Google and that of Apple) is for Store access for your apps. In addition, if the app is a paid app both Google and Apple get 30% of the proceeds. The developer fee also in both cases enables you to "sideload" apps to "testers" without the need for rooting.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

"sideload" apps to "testers" without the need for rooting.

Translation please?

 

[Overmind One]

Translation please?

Sideloading is the method of loading an Android app onto your phone or tablet without going through the Play store or the App store on Apple. You can't sideload on iOS without jailbreaking, but you can easily do it on Android by downloading the app (they end with the extension .apk) into your phone or copying it into the folders. You do not need testers if you have the Android emulators in your developer kit.

 

[PussyGalore]

So, what apps are you peeps gonna create???

 

[Joelist]

You are seeing more Android phones out there that are blocking access to Developer mode so sideloading may not be as easy as it was (one reason I use a custom ROM instead that has no Google bits in it). iOS can sideload apps from Developers (their Apple ID is linked to their Developer account) without a jailbreak.

Back to Heisenberg and Lord Ba'al, which developer environment to use depends on what language you know or want to learn. Heisenberg already knows VB.NET so he may be better with Visual Studio, where he can write in VB.NET and compile natively for Android and publish to Google Play Store. If you are open for language but want Android you can also download Google's own development environment Android Studio:

https://android-developers.googlebl...m_medium=hpp&utm_campaign=AndroidStudio_dec17

Lots of choices.

 

[Lord Ba'al]

So, what apps are you peeps gonna create???

I'm not gonna tell you, nosy man. If I ever do manage to create and/or publish something I will definitely post about it though.

Is there a particular type of app you have been wanting for?

 

[Overmind One]

You are seeing more Android phones out there that are blocking access to Developer mode so sideloading may not be as easy as it was (one reason I use a custom ROM instead that has no Google bits in it). iOS can sideload apps from Developers (their Apple ID is linked to their Developer account) without a jailbreak.

Back to Heisenberg and Lord Ba'al, which developer environment to use depends on what language you know or want to learn. Heisenberg already knows VB.NET so he may be better with Visual Studio, where he can write in VB.NET and compile natively for Android and publish to Google Play Store. If you are open for language but want Android you can also download Google's own development environment Android Studio:

https://android-developers.googlebl...m_medium=hpp&utm_campaign=AndroidStudio_dec17

Lots of choices.

Well wait...Android is an open system. I am not seeing any Android phones "blocking" developer mode. They are simply hiding it. All you have to do on any Android phone to unhide it is to go to Settings > About Phone > Android Version (tap 7 times). Developer mode can be enabled on every Android phone without any rooting or hacking. Apple is completely different. The developer license is at least 5 times more expensive, and the App Store is extremely restrictive. They want no competing apps, they will dictate the colors and shape of all program icons, PLUS they take a cut on sales.