I just finished my first Android course with 12 high school students of
varied age, programming experience, and platform. I initially hoped to t=
each
iOS (since I use an iPhone and love Xcode), but more than half of the
students who signed up used Windows or Linux laptops, and iOS development=
is
pretty limited without Xcode ([
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4533847/alternatives-for-ios-developme=
nt-under-windows]more options are emerging however). We coded in Java using Eclipse 3.5 =
with
the Android plugin and emulator - this is the setup most developers,
including Google's, use. A few students owned handhelds running various
versions of Android from 1.5 to 2.2, so we targeted a few different versi=
ons
and got to try them out.
There are plenty of great sites and tutorials out there, especially on th=
e [
http://developer.android.com/guide/ ]Android Developer site, but I didn't
feel that any were comprehensive enough for a semester course, so I ended=
up
supplementing them with [
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MZ0XN4/ref=3Dpd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd=
_p=3D486539851&pf_rd_s=3Dlpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=3D201&pf_rd_i=3D0321673=
352&pf_rd_m=3DATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=3D1QGMH6T8DYH5S10FMSBC
]Sams Teach Yourself Android App Development in 24 Hours - mostly because
there was a electronic version the kids could download. The book was gre=
at
for our needs, but I'm sure better books have emerged since that one came=
out.
I decided not to spend much time on AppInventor, which looks and behaves =
a
lot like Scratch, since it doesn't take you much beyond the basics of
programming. Honestly though, Android turned out to be complex enough fo=
r
beginners that after a semester their apps were pretty simple - and we we=
re
able to make something comparable with AppInventor in just a few hours! :=
)=20
Our more advanced students were able to do more, however.
In the end we had a great time and they learned a lot, but teaching Andro=
id
proved more complex than I expected. It uses an MVC-like framework, so o=
n
top of basic Java structures, syntax, and inheritance I had to explain XM=
L
layouts, listeners, interfaces, and a relatively-confusing debugger (DDMS=
is
definitely less friendly than Xcode!). I'm not sure I'll offer this cour=
se
again to beginners - I found myself helping them after class more than I'=
d
bargained for...
I posted to Fred's Ning a few times early in the semester and haven't had
time to write more, but I'd be happy to help people who are considering t=
his.
Ben
--
Ben Stumpf
Computer Studies Chair
Concord Academy, Concord, MA
Vern Ceder <vceder@canterburyschool.org> on January 3, 2011 at 8:42 AM -0=
500
wrote:
I'm working on learning android development myself, and have
experimented with AppInventor as well, but haven't yet done anything
in class. AppInventor is now open to all and pretty easy, but also
pretty limited. Otherwise, as a friend (who is a professional software
engineer) says, "android development is pretty straigthforward - the
only thing backward about it is Java." ;)
I know that Doug Bergman at Porter-Gaud does a little bit of android
development with one of his classes.
Cheers,
Vern
-----------------------------
Vern Ceder, Director of Technology
Canterbury School, 3210 Smith Road, Ft Wayne, IN 46804
Beth Ritterguth <bethritterguth@gmail.com> on Jan 3, 2011 at 8:31 AM wrot=
e:
Hi Fred - I am not sure if I am part of the ning? =A0I would love to be i=
f I
am not already. =A0We are programming Android apps, and am wondering if a=
nyone
else in the group is working with them?
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