Learning another programming language
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So my friend who's about to start his own company asked me if I am willing to take one of his projects, which is a small Android app. I told him that although I code in C# and while it may be similar with Java, I have no background on Android development,so the learning curve can be a factor on the deliverables/deadlines since I will be doing it after my day job. The first thing that I did was to go through the training on Android's developer website. I even downloaded a free e-book to use as my guide. Things were going smooth as I was reading and doing the exercises but I realized it's really eating up most of my time. So I skipped the training, identified the controls that will be used, read the documentation, and even googled some code. Following a beginner's book is good because it lays out all the foundation that you need. However, there are instances that I feel that my learning can be faster when I study some code which already does the functionality that I want(ex. code that inserts to a ListView with checkboxes). It's good if I cannot understand the code at first because that's when the reading comes in. So I get to learn about the control and other classes that were used and at the same time, I am able to accomplish a task.
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Why do you think the articles here are so important and popular, almost all the subjects are covered by MSDN and other doco sources. The same thing described and built in a different way by a different person may just click with the reader and he get some real value out of it. The exception to the is the Yet Another (code generator, DAL, serialiser etc) these have been done to death and more articles only add to the confusion and reduces the chances of finding the right response from a search.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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Why not use something like Xamarin[^]? Would avoid having to learn a new language, just a new framework. If your buddy is serious about the app, they can put the couple bucks towards it. Depending on what the app is (if its a game), you may be able to get away with something free, like Unity3D[^] which does scripting in C#.
I already told him about Xamarin but since he's just starting up, he might not consider it at the moment. To save costs I guess. Besides, he's a Java developer so he's a bit biased. :-D
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I already told him about Xamarin but since he's just starting up, he might not consider it at the moment. To save costs I guess. Besides, he's a Java developer so he's a bit biased. :-D
Signature construction in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Its $299 for indie (micro-isv). You may sway him in saying that developing a code base for Android can be immediately ported over to iOS and Windows Phone to vastly expand his market. Cornering yourself to Android leaves out a lot of market share on other platforms, and if he decides to move over to those platforms later, its going to be a painful re-basing of the code. Don't let him make a poor decision because its cheaper, things like that end up costing more than you think in the end. There's a lot to be said to be able to provide your app on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone without extra effort.
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So my friend who's about to start his own company asked me if I am willing to take one of his projects, which is a small Android app. I told him that although I code in C# and while it may be similar with Java, I have no background on Android development,so the learning curve can be a factor on the deliverables/deadlines since I will be doing it after my day job. The first thing that I did was to go through the training on Android's developer website. I even downloaded a free e-book to use as my guide. Things were going smooth as I was reading and doing the exercises but I realized it's really eating up most of my time. So I skipped the training, identified the controls that will be used, read the documentation, and even googled some code. Following a beginner's book is good because it lays out all the foundation that you need. However, there are instances that I feel that my learning can be faster when I study some code which already does the functionality that I want(ex. code that inserts to a ListView with checkboxes). It's good if I cannot understand the code at first because that's when the reading comes in. So I get to learn about the control and other classes that were used and at the same time, I am able to accomplish a task.
Signature construction in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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Its $299 for indie (micro-isv). You may sway him in saying that developing a code base for Android can be immediately ported over to iOS and Windows Phone to vastly expand his market. Cornering yourself to Android leaves out a lot of market share on other platforms, and if he decides to move over to those platforms later, its going to be a painful re-basing of the code. Don't let him make a poor decision because its cheaper, things like that end up costing more than you think in the end. There's a lot to be said to be able to provide your app on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone without extra effort.
I agree with you. But given that all his projects are Java-based applications, it may not be feasible at the moment. Maybe in the future when he is ready to accept mobile app development on other platforms, I will remind him again.
Signature construction in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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wizardzz wrote:
I hate to say it, but there's more good jobs in mobile (droid or ios) than in .net these days.
I agree with you on this one that's why I accepted the project even though he'll pay me around 1/8 of my current salary on my dayjob. :sigh: By the way, how was Android Studio? Is it better than Eclipse on the ADT Bundle?
Signature construction in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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Why do you think the articles here are so important and popular, almost all the subjects are covered by MSDN and other doco sources. The same thing described and built in a different way by a different person may just click with the reader and he get some real value out of it. The exception to the is the Yet Another (code generator, DAL, serialiser etc) these have been done to death and more articles only add to the confusion and reduces the chances of finding the right response from a search.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
Mycroft Holmes wrote:
The same thing described and built in a different way by a different person may just click with the reader and he get some real value out of it.
:thumbsup:
Signature construction in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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Why do you think the articles here are so important and popular, almost all the subjects are covered by MSDN and other doco sources. The same thing described and built in a different way by a different person may just click with the reader and he get some real value out of it. The exception to the is the Yet Another (code generator, DAL, serialiser etc) these have been done to death and more articles only add to the confusion and reduces the chances of finding the right response from a search.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
Mycroft Holmes wrote:
Yet Another
There is an unwritten (and, ,therefore,unfortunately, often-times unread) rule that prior to beginning an article on any subject, one should read every other article on the subject before deciding if one has something more to say - or at least that one is going to be saying the same thing in a significantly different manner. (I hope nobody has posted this before ;)
MVVM # - I did it My Way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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Mycroft Holmes wrote:
Yet Another
There is an unwritten (and, ,therefore,unfortunately, often-times unread) rule that prior to beginning an article on any subject, one should read every other article on the subject before deciding if one has something more to say - or at least that one is going to be saying the same thing in a significantly different manner. (I hope nobody has posted this before ;)
MVVM # - I did it My Way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
I must admit one of my articles, adding filtering to a DGV turned out to be YA, it had been done by many others before me in basically the same way. :-O I find that the introduction of the Tip/Trick format did for my article writing, that and the fact that I've gone back to learning with the change to Silverlight and don't feel I have anything new to offer in that arena yet. It looks like we will have to move to another presentation layer before I even get the depth of knowledge required to produce something useful.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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Why not use something like Xamarin[^]? Would avoid having to learn a new language, just a new framework. If your buddy is serious about the app, they can put the couple bucks towards it. Depending on what the app is (if its a game), you may be able to get away with something free, like Unity3D[^] which does scripting in C#.
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wizardzz wrote:
I hate to say it, but there's more good jobs in mobile (droid or ios) than in .net these days.
I agree with you on this one that's why I accepted the project even though he'll pay me around 1/8 of my current salary on my dayjob. :sigh: By the way, how was Android Studio? Is it better than Eclipse on the ADT Bundle?
Signature construction in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience.
walterhevedeich wrote:
By the way, how was Android Studio?
I like it, it's rather nice.
walterhevedeich wrote:
Is it better than Eclipse on the ADT Bundle?
I like it better, but my experience is limited. I never really cared for Eclipse. I can't speak in terms of performance either. One thing, if you are following tutorials closely, some things may have to be done differently (screens are a little different, etc).
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So my friend who's about to start his own company asked me if I am willing to take one of his projects, which is a small Android app. I told him that although I code in C# and while it may be similar with Java, I have no background on Android development,so the learning curve can be a factor on the deliverables/deadlines since I will be doing it after my day job. The first thing that I did was to go through the training on Android's developer website. I even downloaded a free e-book to use as my guide. Things were going smooth as I was reading and doing the exercises but I realized it's really eating up most of my time. So I skipped the training, identified the controls that will be used, read the documentation, and even googled some code. Following a beginner's book is good because it lays out all the foundation that you need. However, there are instances that I feel that my learning can be faster when I study some code which already does the functionality that I want(ex. code that inserts to a ListView with checkboxes). It's good if I cannot understand the code at first because that's when the reading comes in. So I get to learn about the control and other classes that were used and at the same time, I am able to accomplish a task.
Signature construction in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience.