Android Development

There are several Integrated Development Environments (IDE) for Android Java apps. Each offers editing, compiling and testing facilities in a single package. The most widely used IDE is probably still Eclipse with the Android plugin. But Google has stopped supporting this application so the main IDE for development on a computer is now Android Studio. You can read how to use Android Studio here. Android Studio is completely free software.

If you want to develop Android apps on an Android device then again, there are several options. The best of these is AIDE, the Android Integrated Development Environment. You can learn how to use AIDE here. It is commercial software but a free version is available which you can use for relatively small apps. You can download this from the Google Play Store.

You can learn more about developing Android Apps in "Start Programming Mobile Apps with Android Java" by Bill Tait. This is available in Kindle and paperback formats from the Amazon bookstore.

 

Android Java Graphics

There are two ways to introduce graphics to Android apps. One is through the xml layout files and the other is by writing Java code. Here are four tutorials on the latter, the Android Java graphics. The first tutorial is an introduction to graphic shapes. The second explains how to produce scaled graphics shapes to fit a wide range of mobile screens. The third describes the Android Path class and how it is used to create complex shapes. The fourth tutorial is about graphics color and its implementation in Android graphics as well as color gradients. All of these are illustrated with simple Android apps.