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Android Studio 2.2

android-developers.blogspot.com

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Re: Android Studio 2.2

#61

Post by jmkni »

cageface wrote: post #23
kyriakos wrote: post #3

I tried many times to get into android development but everytime I get put off by the complexity of the api. The amount of digging in documentation you need to do in order to implement the simplest functionality scares me. Is anyone else feeling the same way? And does anyone know if it gets better with time or is it a constant struggle?

Some things are much more sane and well thought out than iOS. Styling and layouts, for example, are so much better than Interface Builder, which is pretty much just a toy for demos. Other things like the way events are handled and some of the native widgets are clunky. Some of us are fed up enough with all the incidental complexity Apple puts in your way every day as a developer (provisioning, in particular), that we…

> Interface Builder, which is pretty much just a toy for demos

As somebody currently learning the basics of iOS development, what do people use as an alternative?

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#62

Post by jmkni »

2bitencryption wrote: post #16
kyriakos wrote: post #3

I tried many times to get into android development but everytime I get put off by the complexity of the api. The amount of digging in documentation you need to do in order to implement the simplest functionality scares me. Is anyone else feeling the same way? And does anyone know if it gets better with time or is it a constant struggle?

You're going to call me crazy. But using Xamarin to develop Android apps in C# via Visual Studio is seriously a better experience than using the Android Studio. At least, that's been my experience with simple personal projects -- perhaps if you are Facebook or Instagram that's not the case. The API is almost the same, sure. But things like class attributes, null-coalescing, lack of Gradle, automatically generated get…

I've been really enjoying Xamarin Android recently.

What's nice is that most of the regular Android tutorials/SO answers are easily translatable to Xamarin Android.

I have found myself just leaving the word Xamarin when I google something, as the ordinary Android resources are good enough.

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#63

Post by agildehaus »

Nullabillity wrote: post #45
sosborn wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IB is perfectly fine for most apps. When you feel constricted it is easy enough to accomplish what you want in code.

What happens if you try to open an iPhone app on an iPad? What happens if you try to open an Android phone app on an Android tablet? That's the difference between IB and Android's layout system.

Modern iOS development uses Autolayout, which uses a constraint solver. This hasn't been a problem for years.

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#64

Post by h1d »

2bitencryption wrote: post #16
kyriakos wrote: post #3

I tried many times to get into android development but everytime I get put off by the complexity of the api. The amount of digging in documentation you need to do in order to implement the simplest functionality scares me. Is anyone else feeling the same way? And does anyone know if it gets better with time or is it a constant struggle?

You're going to call me crazy. But using Xamarin to develop Android apps in C# via Visual Studio is seriously a better experience than using the Android Studio. At least, that's been my experience with simple personal projects -- perhaps if you are Facebook or Instagram that's not the case. The API is almost the same, sure. But things like class attributes, null-coalescing, lack of Gradle, automatically generated get…

Want to hear others' overall experience on Xamarin too.

It looked like it's just a middle ground that does neither as good as the native solutions. Was hoping MS will accelerate it to be more competitive.

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#65

Post by h1d »

eggy wrote: post #43
pjmlp wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just be aware that C and C++ are really meant for programming games, bringing code from other platforms or improve performance. Trying to write an app that isn't a game will make you enjoy the pleasures of JNI calls, given the APIs exposed to the NDK.

I know, since my first attempt was in Java to create a simple app. I know the NDK can be used to create OpenGLES guis, and access the sensors, but for a traditional app it's a lot of work. Syntax is a subjective thing; I just don't like Java. I was hoping Google was going to come up with something (other than Go), for Android. I have tried a lot of the work arounds, and simply put, Java is the way to do Android right…

Would be a dream if they adopt Swift but then again, the history of blink/webkit fork does come to mind.

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#66

Post by pjmlp »

eggy wrote: post #59
pjmlp wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check Xamarin documentation they have some Android F# samples.

I did, and they are great. I even have the Continuous App on my iPad Pro which is an F# development environment. It's incredible, but I am concerned about having to still drill down to the Android API, which means Java. I am thinking more and more against my wish, that biting the bullet and just going Java all the way is the key. Kotlin, Xtend, you still have to read Android SDK code in Java, correct? In terms of boo…

I know Java since it was introduced in 1996 and had experience targeting J2ME, so learning Android wasn't that complicated to me.

I own a few PacktPub books that I like, namely:

https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/asynchronou...

https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/android-app...

https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/android-dat...

https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/android-ui-...

I don't know that book, so I cannot judge it, but it is important to try to use your interests as an idea for a possible app that you could use as learning process.

If you stay on Java side than using something like LibGDX will help on the game programing ideas. Or if you prefer to jump into the "wonders" of NDK, then something like SDL or Cocos2D-x.

For the Xamarin side, have you read the Petzold book?

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/microsoft_press/2016/03/31/...

Regarding about using wanted programming languages, my experience with Turbo Pascal, Delphi, Oberon, Smalltalk and many other languages is that straying away from the true path of OS SDK supported languages usually ends in pain as the productivity gains get wasted battling interoperability issues, lack of tool support from the OS vendor and writing FFI bindings.

So nowadays although I dabble in lot of languages, for production code I only use the OS SDK supported languages.

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#67

Post by pawadu »

eggy wrote: post #56
cageface wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some things are much more sane and well thought out than iOS. Styling and layouts, for example, are so much better than Interface Builder, which is pretty much just a toy for demos. Other things like the way events are handled and some of the native widgets are clunky. Some of us are fed up enough with all the incidental complexity Apple puts in your way every day as a developer (provisioning, in particular), that we…

Android vs. Web Apps is exactly where I was sitting on the fence, but then I just looked at the sheer number of Android devices out there, and it doesn't seem to be stopping!

And the web apps all run on the same machine?

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#68

Post by pawadu »

alexkcd wrote: post #12
kyriakos wrote: post #3

I tried many times to get into android development but everytime I get put off by the complexity of the api. The amount of digging in documentation you need to do in order to implement the simplest functionality scares me. Is anyone else feeling the same way? And does anyone know if it gets better with time or is it a constant struggle?

The graphics stack in Android is badly designed. It is that way for historical reasons. Android used to do CPU-based blitting -- similar to other mobile platforms at the time: Symbian OS and Windows Pocket PC. Then the first iPhone launched & it became clear that GPU rendering was the way to go for mobile UI drawing. Rather than rebuild the graphics stack from the ground around GPU rendering, GPU support was tacked o…

But that stuff is mostly relevant for manufacturers, not developers.

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#69

Post by pawadu »

yoz-y wrote: post #48
leviathan wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the parent is talking about android views. which are XML documents and almost everyone writes the XML instead of mucking about with the visual editor.

I think this is mostly due to the lacking visual editor rather than virtues of the underlying XML format.

Seriously? In a thread about Android Studio of all places??

https://developer.android.com/studio/write/layout-editor.htm...

Re: Android Studio 2.2

#70

Post by cageface »

jmkni wrote: post #61
cageface wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some things are much more sane and well thought out than iOS. Styling and layouts, for example, are so much better than Interface Builder, which is pretty much just a toy for demos. Other things like the way events are handled and some of the native widgets are clunky. Some of us are fed up enough with all the incidental complexity Apple puts in your way every day as a developer (provisioning, in particular), that we…

> Interface Builder, which is pretty much just a toy for demos As somebody currently learning the basics of iOS development, what do people use as an alternative?

IB is ok for getting started but it will eventually hold you back. If you get to the point where you feel like you're fighting it as much as using it then look into doing your layouts in code with one of these libraries:

https://github.com/SnapKit/SnapKit

https://github.com/robb/Cartography

It may take a little getting used to but, especially for the kind of dynamic apps people want to build today, it will save you a lot of time and headaches in the end.

Also make sure you get your head around UIStackView. It's a little tricky to learn at first but makes a lot of common layout problems easier to solve.

Also, start using this library ASAP:

https://github.com/mac-cain13/R.swift

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