Need an epiphany

mrpnut · 11-26-2008, 01:59 AM

Ive been developing applications for web and desktop using VB, PERL,C# and PHP for almost 10 years.

With each of those I had an epiphany...a moment where I just start to 'get it'. Maybe its because Im not a seasoned programmer or something but after a week...Im still searching for that with the Eclipse environment and the Android SDK.

Any other developers know what Im talking about...or is this just something about the way I learn?

What was your "Oooooh, I get it" moment?

Ive never programmed with Java before, so maybe Im just being lazy and I need to buckle down and force myself to go through all the tutorials.

For anyone who has developed a working Android app from the ground up..whats your best advice for someone with my background?

hej · 11-26-2008, 05:01 PM

If you've done C#, I don't understand how Java is hard to pick up. My only suggestion is maybe pick up "Android: A Programmers Guide". It's the only readily available book that I know of. People have complained that it's not much more than a compilation of freely available docs. I don't know if this is true or not, but I've found it to be straight forward in explaining Android development. I have yet to see a topic in there that was confusing.

mrpnut · 11-26-2008, 05:34 PM

Thanks for the suggestion, Ill check it out. I've discovered in the last day or so that its really not that dissimilar..The conclusion I'm starting to reach is that having been entrenched in Visual Studio so long has made me a lazy programmer....

Time to buckle down

lusid · 12-09-2008, 11:58 PM

I have similar experience as you... was hardcore Perl, PHP, Python, and C++ developer on Linux for about 5 years... .NET came out as a beta, and I then switched completely to the dark side working in C# for the past 7 years or so. Sooooo... I know what you mean.

However, C# and Java are VERY similar. After all, let's face it, C# stole all of its best ideas directly from Java... what I've realized, like yourself, is that the IDE changes everything. Eclipse is actually a MUCH better IDE than Visual Studio... but you have to learn to use it. Right click your code and check out the source and refactoring context items, or mouse over the yellow/red squiggles that appear... I've found myself becoming LAZIER in Eclipse than I am in Visual Studio (and it seriously doesn't get much worse than hitting CTRL+. in VS every time you see a squiggle on a class to add a using statement, lol).

So... yeah... you just need to dig into Eclipse more. The Java piece should come fairly naturally to you. Good luck!