lessons learned making android apps as a side project
TRANSCRIPT
Android Apps As A Side ProjectLessons Learned After Two Years
Rand Grahamrmcore.com
Why Android?● Ecosystem
● Your Background
● Self Contained
● Portfolio
● Create Value
rmcore.com
Always Check The App Store
● User Request
● Useful to You
● Fix
Complaints
rmcore.com
Best Book To Get Started
● Up To Date
● Code Samples
● Office Hours
● Multiple Formats
● Perfect For Side Projectrmcore.com
Minimal Design● Use A Theme
● Use Action
Bar
● Use Icons
● Style Text
● Style Buttonsrmcore.com
Talk To People
● Designer Referral
● ActionBarSherlock
● Feature Suggestions
● After Shipping: Usersrmcore.com
The Emulator Is Painful
Three Reasons
1. Paid Alternative
Genymotion
2. Developers Don’t Use It
3. Microsoft Makes A Better O
nermcore.com
Always Test On A Device
● Emulator For Development
● Use eBay
rmcore.com
“Java is a belt fed 240G automatic weapon where sometimes the belt has rounds, sometimes it doesn’t, and when it doesn’t during firing you get an NullPointerException, the gun explodes and you die.” Bjorn Tipling source
That Time I Shipped A Crash Bug
● Sanitize User Input“Also app crashes when trying to use decimal as em values for input widths.”
rmcore.com
What is a JAR?
Most Android libraries use Apache 2
rmcore.com
Some Favorites
● AChartEngine
● ColorPickerPreference
● aFileChooser
Android Security
● Cannot override the home buttono Make a home screen launcher
o Example: MobiLock Kiosk Lockdown
● Cannot send email directly
o Prevents device becoming a spam relay
rmcore.com
Android FragmentationAre the vast differences in possible screen
sizes a problem? Not so much.
rmcore.com
FUD
Actual
Best VCS For Side Project: Git
BitbucketAlways use version
control
rmcore.com
Greatest RewardsEvidence of Value Creation“I used to pass around a pad and pen and then it would take me about a day trying to read everyone’s handwriting, not easy. When I do figure it out, many times emails bounced back because a letter was misread. The app makes things error free.”
Happy Customers“Fantastic! Thank you for the update! I really appreciate it!”
Portfolio
rmcore.com
Keep In Touch
Check out my website at:
http://rmcore.com
Email: rdg at rmcore dot com
Twitter: @rdg_rmcore
rmcore.com