Getting Started With Android Application Development (Part 1)
Table Of Content —
1. Why do we need android application development?
2. Choosing the Tech Stack.
Need Of Android Application Development
According to Android Statistics (2022). Currently, there are approx 2.5 billion active Android devices around the globe. The reach of android OS has been expanding and it seems like till the time we don’t have an operating system like Fuchsia OS in common usage, this number is going to rise.
Even though there’s a lot of debate about native application development vs cross-platform application development. In order to understand cross-platform one firstly needs to understand how native application development happens.
Know more about Cross-platform dev.
Before starting,
“The article is based on my learning which I gained through my internships and recently started corporate experience as an android dev. In case your opinion differs, feel free to reach out. I’ll be happy to include your opinion/viewpoint”.
Choosing the Tech Stack:
Before starting off with any kind of development, one should first explore all the possible ways of developing an android application. Upon research, you’ll come across multiple frameworks that can be used for the same.
Following is the list of the same:
Each of the above-mentioned frameworks has there own use cases, each one uses a different language, different environment, etc. While I started android development the most common one was Native with Java and later on I shifted to Kotlin.
“Don’t just follow the first framework you came around, the industry is now slowly shifting towards other frameworks. Take your time, see some sample codes and explore all the frameworks and then decide which one is going to be better for you”
Starting off with things you need to know in order to be a good android developer according to me and the roadmaps I follow :
My advice — rather than remembering the boilerplate code, try remembering the logic. You’ll be able to get better in development faster.
How to start?
Now that you have selected Native using Java/Kotlin. The first task is learning Java/Kotlin. In case you are already proficient with Java or any other object-oriented programming language you can start with Kotlin itself. And in case you are just getting started with programming, I’ll suggest you start learning Java. Follow any tutorial of your choice, learn the important topics like — OOPS concepts, Basic Java constructs like loops and data types, String handling, etc.
The reason for starting with Java, even though Kotlin is an improvement over java. You’ll be able to understand the benefits of Kotlin over java if you know about that concept in java. As compared to Java Kotlin is more developer-friendly and easy to understand. Also, Java will help you with your DataStrucres and algorithms.
Preferred Resource to learn Kotlin from:
https://kotlinlang.org/docs/home.html
Kotlin For Android:
https://developer.android.com/courses/android-basics-kotlin/unit-1
Read Part 2 regarding the must-know topics in Android Native Development using Kotlin/java.
Please Feel free to share your opinions in the comments.
