The Easy-peasy Guide: Learn how to start building Android apps.
Maybe, you’re clueless about how to start.
Maybe, you’ve always been intrigued by the apps you download on Google Playstore and you’ve always wondered how you can build yours. If I’ve just described you, then you probably want to set out on this adventure into the world of Android app development, but you probably don’t know how.
This might not be the first article that has promised to show you how to start. You’ve probably even watched YouTube videos, scoured through sources on the internet, but somehow you still don’t know how to or have some level of uncertainty as to how to begin.
I really want to put you out of that misery because I’ve been there before. I started developing Android apps about 3 years ago, and I’m going to be hands on by providing you with links to sources that can help you get started — because doing is believing, lol.
Let me start by providing you with some insight as to how I started. I’m not going to tell you this because I expect you to follow the exact same path that I did, but to provide you with some context on the process of starting out developing Android apps.
So, let’s get to it.
I started out learning the basics of programming.
• How to declare, initialize and manipulate variables.
• How to use arrays, 2 and 3 dimensional.
• Control structures — if else statements, loops, etc
• How to create classes and use them as well as understanding their OOP characteristics, etc.
Already, I knew how to write code in C++. But I figured that to be able to build Android apps, I needed to know how to code in either Java or Kotlin. So, I went with Java and started learning how to write the Java Syntax.
After I had become confident with writing Java syntax, it was now time to delve into the world of Android programming. I installed Android studio(an IDE fot building Android apps — don’t worry, I explained what an IDE is further in this article). I got this guide-to-Android pdf book and started reading.
I didn’t like the progress I was making at the time because I was just learning bits and pieces of basic Android concepts. I wanted to be able to use these bits and pieces to build something, even if small. So, I just dumped the book and started my first project.
Already, I knew how to create an XML layout with XML components and attributes. It wasn’t rosy because I remember I was stuck on some bugs for days. My first app was a simple one page app that calculated the mean of a certain set of numbers. Seems simple right? It was, but as a beginner it was really challenging.
After that, I worked on a Grade Point calculator app. I noticed that working on projects helped me get better. I’d start a project having no idea how I’d go about it from the onset. But, I’d start either way — build the first activity(don’t get confused by this term — you’ll learn about it soon), then the second one, then figure out how to do this and do that because I had amazing tools like Google and Stackoverflow to help me whenever I got stuck.
I only got better with time. It’s really not easy learning on your own, but it’s very doable and a lot of developers I know are self taught. This is only the tip of the iceberg of my own journey.
So, let’s get straight to seeing how you can get started.
Already, you know that you need to have knowledge of the basic programming concepts. This is where you have to decide the language you want to go for. Android development allows you to choose between Java and Kotlin.
Java is way older than Kotlin but Kotlin is gradually becoming more adopted. Companies are now building fresh projects with Kotlin and are gradually moving existing codebase to Kotlin.
So, Kotlin might just be your best bet but I’d leave that decision to you.
Here are some Kotlin tutorials:
• https://youtu.be/F9UC9DY-vIU
• https://youtu.be/5flXf8nuq60
• https://youtu.be/wuiT4T_LJQo
I particularly recommend Telusko’s tutorial. He’s a great teacher that through his tutorials, I’ve been able to learn so much, especiallly when I was starting out.
• https://youtu.be/I6rkwJed-HY
If you decide to go with Java, here are some tutorials to help you get started.
• https://youtu.be/eIrMbAQSU34
• https://youtu.be/BGTx91t8q50
• https://youtu.be/A74TOX803D0
• https://youtu.be/7WiJGTPuVeU
• https://youtu.be/xk4_1vDrzzo
These are all detailed tutorials on how to get started with Java. These tutorials will show you how to configure JDK(Java Development Kit) — which is just a bunch of tools that will help you write and run Java code.
The next thing you need to do is install your IDE. IDE’s are tools that contain all the tools that you need to be able to write code and build projects.(see that I used tools twice, yeah?). That’s it. It’s a tool because it helps you do something — like build a website, an app, or just any software, etc and it in turn contains the tools that you need to build the components of the app like the UI, and tools that allows you write and compile code.
There are a variety of options for an IDE when it comes to building Android apps. But there are 2 major ones, which are:
• Android Studio
• IntelliJIdea
I use Android studio.
Here’s some links that will guide you step by step on how to install Android Studio:
• https://youtu.be/z7s5zzOgYc4
• https://youtu.be/g7lUIxVHTec
• https://youtu.be/ucZpKZpp9Yk
• https://youtu.be/mCr8mNnLkBA
After your IDE has been installed successfully, then you’re good to go. You’re ready to build your first Android app. If you have any issues installing your Android studio IDE, you can reach out to me through any of the links at the bottom of this article.
It’s important to note that when it comes to building Android apps. There are 2 ways to go about it, which are:
1. The XML route: This is the oldest way and still the most widely used way of building Android apps. This comprises of 2 major parts. One is the XML layout that houses UI components like buttons, text-fields to display text or take input from user, listViews to display list of products or whatever.
The second is the Activity class. This is where we use code(either Java or Kotlin) to define how we want these UI components (like button, textfields, etc) to behave — whether we want a button to display a simple text message or we want the button to upon up another page.
An app could have tens or hundreds of XML layouts and Activity classes depending on the kind of Android app you’re building. This is by far the most traditional and most widely used method of building Android apps. This is so because the most modern way of building Android apps which is Jetpack Compose is not as widely used, yet as the traditional XML method.
2. The Jetpack Compose route: Just as I said in my last sentence, Jetpack Compose is another, easier method to build UI particularly. It makes building native UI relatively easy.
To learn more about Jetpack Compose, you can do so here: https://developer.android.com/jetpack/compose?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyKPj4Nzo_AIVmdV3Ch0N8wUPEAAYASAAEgL0xfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Maybe sometime in the nearest future, I’ll write about XML Vs Jetpack Compose but for now, this is where I’ll draw the curtains. I hope that in my next article, I’ll be showing you how to build your first Android app.
Till we meet again, Gracias!
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