Programming Google Android

I have been running an IT Consulting business for 2 years. It made good money, but I don't think its a good idea to work this way. At least, not for a startup. After reading SaaS Startups Knobs and Dials And Other Insights, I decided to move in another direction. I decided to write a stock ticker for a mobile phone platform created by Google called Android as a technology prototype. Lo and behold, they are using Java to power it!

Aah, Java. It has been 7 years since I last wrote any commercial software using Java. I wrote J2ME programs that ran on Nokia phones. I wrote a J2SE client and server messaging service using XMPP as its protocol (at the time it was known as Jabber). I wrote a B2B software that is powered by JSP and Servlets served by J2EE Application Server.

With all the experience programming for Android should be easy right? Wrong!

The most I managed after "Hello, World" was... well, thats all I managed. Ok, no problem, it's been 7 years. That's hell of a long time right? All I need to do is spend a week or so going through the SDK, and then I'm good to go. One and a half month later, I'm still stuck at "Hello, World".

So what went wrong? I have no idea. Maybe I got old and the old brain doesn't work as well as when I was younger I guess. Anyways, here are some steps you'll need to follow in order to start programming for Android.

1) Know Java.
2) Install Eclipse for your IDE
3) Install The Android SDK
4) Make sure you installed the ADT Plugin
5) Start programming!

Trust me, this is the best way to go about it. The ADT Plugin lets you edit, build, debug, package it into .apk, and sign your program, all at the push of a button. All you need to do is set it up first, then you're good to go.

Or... you can be a man and go through literally the 9 levels of Dante's hell by using a basic editor like notepad, compile and package the program into .apk file., and use a keytool and jarsigner to digitally sign your program. Oh, and don't forget them command lines! You gotta love command lines to do all this masochistic crap. Oh, the pain!