Android Development Beginners Guide

Walter G.

2 minute read

719 devs read this

android

A while back I decided to make an Android app, and take the world by storm and make millions and be carried off by the townspeople. And I decided to document the process for any newcomers trying to do the same. Alot goes into making a mobile app, and it is very different than making a web application or a windows application. And no, I did not make millions, nor can I show you how, that is up to you. But I can show you how to set up your IDE, create a menu, spit back output, and save user data. And if those sound like things that you would want to learn then read on.

1. SDK, ADT And AVD

I cover the basics of getting your IDE setup and ready to go. From downloading your IDE to configuring it so that it runs much faster than it does by default.

2. Working With Activities And Intents

Now that we have our environment set up ready to be worked on, we can add a few controls to our application. We'll then link these controls to different actions.

3. Working With The Action Bar

Now that we have our environment set up ready to be worked on, we can add a few controls to our application. We'll then link these controls to different actions.

4. Activity Life Cycles

This section is optional, but it still covers topics that are important to learn at some point. Knowing when certain events get triggered in Android, can resolve many issues somewhere down the line.

5. Working With Fragments

Learn how to add fragments to your applications at runtime and design time.

6. Saving Data To Shared Preferences

Learn to store data into Shared Preferences and then test that afterwards using DDMS.

7. Saving Data To Files

And lastly we'll finish off this guide by saving user data into internal and external files, very important stuff!

Walter Guevara is a Computer Scientist, software engineer, startup founder and previous mentor for a coding bootcamp. He has been creating software for the past 20 years.

Last updated on: January 27 2024

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