Android Code overview
Discussion
I am familiar with C and Assembler and have previously used Visual basic, obviously I started with ZX81 basic. My preferred language for most things is assembler as you have complete control over what is happening. Looking for the first time to write some code, mostly a user interface to run under Andriod. Can someone give a simpleton's overview to get me started.
It looks like Google prefer you to use Android Studio, which seems to work on the basis of taking blocks of pre written code and adding a few instructions to link things together. This appears to be as I remember Visual Basic where really you have no idea exactly what is happening in the finished product, this makes me uncomfortable. I also read that Andriod code is primarily Java based so can I write some Java and call it within Studio ?
Somehow I need to get the finished code into the end user's devices does that have to be done via Google Play or is there an alternative there ?
Studio looks to be enormous, overly complicated and geared towards giving Google money and data is there a viable alternative ? I am quite simple so like simple things that can be understood fully.
It looks like Google prefer you to use Android Studio, which seems to work on the basis of taking blocks of pre written code and adding a few instructions to link things together. This appears to be as I remember Visual Basic where really you have no idea exactly what is happening in the finished product, this makes me uncomfortable. I also read that Andriod code is primarily Java based so can I write some Java and call it within Studio ?
Somehow I need to get the finished code into the end user's devices does that have to be done via Google Play or is there an alternative there ?
Studio looks to be enormous, overly complicated and geared towards giving Google money and data is there a viable alternative ? I am quite simple so like simple things that can be understood fully.
I have used Java (Android Studio) and C# (Visual Studio & Xamarin) for developing Android applications. From experience I would advise using Android Studio with either Java or Kotlin. There are a lot of started tutorials available and depending on what you need to do things shouldn't be too tricky, assuming you do not need to use and custom hardware. For standard apps you get a lot for free (e.g. using bluetooth, gps, camera etc. within an app is quite straight forward).
Android Studio is free to download, install and use. One thing you will need to understand is that writing Android apps is not the same as developing code for normal embedded devices - Android places each app into its own 'silo' and limits what you can access from the underlying device (e.g. getting the devices MAC address is not allowed without 'rooting' the device) - security is the main reason for this.
As for getting the app onto the users devices it all depends really on what the end device is; for example:
Android Studio is free to download, install and use. One thing you will need to understand is that writing Android apps is not the same as developing code for normal embedded devices - Android places each app into its own 'silo' and limits what you can access from the underlying device (e.g. getting the devices MAC address is not allowed without 'rooting' the device) - security is the main reason for this.
As for getting the app onto the users devices it all depends really on what the end device is; for example:
- for publicly available apps the Play Store would be used
- for company specific apps, with a lot of devices a cut down (company specific) Play Store could be used.
- for limited number of devices abd (Android Debug Bridge) could be used to directly put the app on the device.
steve-V8s said:
I am familiar with C and Assembler and have previously used Visual basic, obviously I started with ZX81 basic. My preferred language for most things is assembler as you have complete control over what is happening. Looking for the first time to write some code, mostly a user interface to run under Andriod. Can someone give a simpleton's overview to get me started.
It looks like Google prefer you to use Android Studio, which seems to work on the basis of taking blocks of pre written code and adding a few instructions to link things together. This appears to be as I remember Visual Basic where really you have no idea exactly what is happening in the finished product, this makes me uncomfortable. I also read that Andriod code is primarily Java based so can I write some Java and call it within Studio ?
Somehow I need to get the finished code into the end user's devices does that have to be done via Google Play or is there an alternative there ?
Studio looks to be enormous, overly complicated and geared towards giving Google money and data is there a viable alternative ? I am quite simple so like simple things that can be understood fully.
Bloody Hell, you want to build a UI for Android phones in assembler! You're brave! That would be a huge undertaking. Do keep us updated though, would love to see your progress.It looks like Google prefer you to use Android Studio, which seems to work on the basis of taking blocks of pre written code and adding a few instructions to link things together. This appears to be as I remember Visual Basic where really you have no idea exactly what is happening in the finished product, this makes me uncomfortable. I also read that Andriod code is primarily Java based so can I write some Java and call it within Studio ?
Somehow I need to get the finished code into the end user's devices does that have to be done via Google Play or is there an alternative there ?
Studio looks to be enormous, overly complicated and geared towards giving Google money and data is there a viable alternative ? I am quite simple so like simple things that can be understood fully.
As an aside, I also started on the ZX81 - I got a second-hand one with a 16K RAM pack. The guy also gave me a Zilog machine coding book. I tried to read it and was left utterly baffled! I'd only ever used PET basic on there school computers before. Mind you, I had just turned 11 and didn't know about assemblers and stuff.
Android Studio is the most common platform /IDE to develop an Android app these days. You can develop in Java and or Kotlin. The blocks of pre-written code you refer to is part of the framework that Android Studio provides to allow users to develop functionality at a higher level without having to worry about different hardware configurations and the nitty gritty of how simple components work. This allows developers to implement app designs quickly without having to worry about how a button really works for example. It is relatively easy to put together a simple app which does something if you press a button so long as you're not too worried about how it looks.
If you wish to delve into more hardware oriented connectivity I suggest you look into the Native Development Kit (NDK). This allows more direct access to other code written in C to allow more direct control of hardware.
Edited to fix awful sentence.
If you wish to delve into more hardware oriented connectivity I suggest you look into the Native Development Kit (NDK). This allows more direct access to other code written in C to allow more direct control of hardware.
Edited to fix awful sentence.
Edited by Aunty Pasty on Tuesday 28th September 10:56
AFAICS, programs for Android have to be written in Java and have to use the enormous, complicated, incomprehensible SDK. You can develop in 'C' using the NDK, but Google would rather you didn't.
I had an idea for an app, looked at the enormous learning curve (despite having worked in IT for 41 years, I don't know Java and have never used a GUI SDK) and gave up.
Developing in assembler is a non-starter. Does anyone even still do that, apart from a few very specialised programmers? I last wrote in (PDP11) assembler in the late 70's, apart from a dozen lines of Z/Series Assembler as a mod to someone else's code in the early 2000's.
I had an idea for an app, looked at the enormous learning curve (despite having worked in IT for 41 years, I don't know Java and have never used a GUI SDK) and gave up.
Developing in assembler is a non-starter. Does anyone even still do that, apart from a few very specialised programmers? I last wrote in (PDP11) assembler in the late 70's, apart from a dozen lines of Z/Series Assembler as a mod to someone else's code in the early 2000's.
I probably confused the issue. I like assembler because I have complete control over the finished code rather than higher level languages. I understand that is not practical where I have no idea what the end processor is.
Seem to recall the 16k ram pack had a feature where the slightly less than ideal connector crashed the machine, normally at about 2 am just when you had eventually got something to work.
Zilog did the excellent Z8 with a small basic interpreter with which you could call assembler routines by memory location.
Seem to recall the 16k ram pack had a feature where the slightly less than ideal connector crashed the machine, normally at about 2 am just when you had eventually got something to work.
Zilog did the excellent Z8 with a small basic interpreter with which you could call assembler routines by memory location.
steve-V8s said:
I probably confused the issue. I like assembler because I have complete control over the finished code rather than higher level languages. I understand that is not practical where I have no idea what the end processor is.
Seem to recall the 16k ram pack had a feature where the slightly less than ideal connector crashed the machine, normally at about 2 am just when you had eventually got something to work.
Zilog did the excellent Z8 with a small basic interpreter with which you could call assembler routines by memory location.
Those days are gone! While I have deep nostalgia for the PDP11 (to the point where I have a PiDP11/70) I wouldn't want to do any real work on one!!!!Seem to recall the 16k ram pack had a feature where the slightly less than ideal connector crashed the machine, normally at about 2 am just when you had eventually got something to work.
Zilog did the excellent Z8 with a small basic interpreter with which you could call assembler routines by memory location.
https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp...
If you want something simpler than Android Studio and know Visual Basic then I would suggest trying B4A: https://www.b4x.com/b4a.html
plasticpig said:
If you want something simpler than Android Studio and know Visual Basic then I would suggest trying B4A: https://www.b4x.com/b4a.html
Thank you for that B4A looks interesting as a starting point at least. Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff