Want to start Android development?

Oooh cool thread. Thanks Elimentals

Mind if I add a list of video's that I wish more developers would actually watch.
Check: Design in Action http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=android+design+in+action

They give some really good advice and example's to Developers on how to improve design of applications, I just wish some of the would listen, Especially you Tasker, make it so!!! :)
 
XDA University Is Live, With Guides For Developers And End Users Alike

Most college kids are at home this time of the year, celebrating the end of finals and/or nursing hangovers. But the ROM's scene's number one destination is hosting classes all year round at the the new XDA University site. XDA-Developers has been working on the extension of the main site as a destination for newcomers to the world of root, custom ROMs, and other Android modifications, as well as a place to learn about more serious Android development. The site is live now at XDA-University.com.

nexusae0_xda-university_thumb.jpg

What is XDA University? Well, it's somewhere between a textbook (the introductory page even describes itself as "this book") and a limited wiki. The XDA administrators have described it as "crowd-sourced", and the resources provided will be regularly updated, though there is no way for public users to edit the content. More than anything else, it provides a destination for new Android users (or even experiences ones who to brush up) on the basics of both Android as a operating system and XDA as a community of creators and users. A downloadable PDF of the site will be available at some time in the future.

XDA has grown exponentially since the good ol' days of Windows Mobile, and finding a good place to start among hundreds of portals and hundreds of thousands of posts has become increasingly difficult. Now newbies will have a good place to get their toes wet before jumping into the deep end of the XDA forums, and aspiring developers will have a useful knowledge base to call upon without losing themselves in the search function.
Click to expand...
Source: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/1...th-guides-for-developers-and-end-users-alike/
 
Graphic Designers: Bookmark This Great Cheatsheet For Holo Visuals And Resources

Graphic Designers: Bookmark This Great Cheatsheet For Holo Visuals And Resources

I spent the better part of four years before the keyboard as a graphic designer, but when it comes to programming and development, I don't know Java from a small Indonesian island. If you're a designer who's been tasked with creating the visual elements for an Android app, you need to check out Peter Nohejl's Android cheatsheet for Graphic designers. It's got pretty much everything you'll need when preparing visual assets, plus bonus help when preparing promotional materials for the Play Store.

nexusae0_metrics_forms_thumb.png

In addition to basic dimensions, DPI settings, standard colors and the like, there's some great information about why you need to prepare certain files and templates in certain ways. Take the handy table of screen densities and icon sizes: in a quick glance, you can determine the sizes you'll need for various icons, on screens of different sizes and densities. (Plus it's got the ever-confusing shorthand for mobile resolutions, like xhdpi.)

Links in every section go out to even more resources, like standard guidelines and assets, naming conventions, and the various tools that have already been created. There are also quick downloads for templates and Photoshop shapes. This thing deserves a permanent spot in any mobile designer or UX professional's bookmark folder. Follow these guidelines, and the folks in /r/Android will love you forever.

Android cheatsheet for Graphic designers - Peter Nohejl
Click to expand...
Source http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/0...at-cheatsheet-for-holo-visuals-and-resources/

Be sure to also check out the resource section of the cheatsheet.
 
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Make it official?

Free Online Programming Handheld Systems with Android Cert from Maryland Uni starting Jan

Tentative Schedule

Week #1:
Lecture #0 - Handheld systems, their use, and how this affects the design of handheld applications
Lecture #1 – The Android Platform
Lecture #2 – The Android Development Environment
Lab #1: Setup: Students identify required software & install it on their personal computers. Students perform several tasks to familiarize themselves with the Android Platform and development environment.

Week #2:
Lecture #3 – Application Fundamentals
Lecture #4 – The Activity Class
Lab #2 – The Activity Lifecycle & Reconfiguration: We'll build applications that 1) trace the lifecycle callback methods issued by the Android platform and that 2) change the application’s layout when the device configuration changes (e.g., when the device moves from portrait to landscape mode).

Week #3:
Lecture #5 – The Intent Class
Lecture #6 – Permissions
Lab #3a - Intents & Permissions: We'll build several applications that require starting multiple Activities via standard and custom Intents, and that require non-default permissions.
Lecture #7 – The Fragment Class
Lab #3b – Tablet User Interfaces: We'll build two applications; one that has a series of Activities for use on a phone; one that has a multi-pane user interface for use on a tablet.

Week #4:
Lectures #8 – User Interface Classes - Part I
Lectures #9 – User Interface Classes - Part II
Lab #4 – ToDoManager: We'll build a ToDo list manager using the user interface elements discussed in lecture. The application will use custom views for creatively displaying ToDo items in a list. The application will display two different types of user interfaces, based on whether the device on which it’s running is a small phone or a larger tablet.

Week #5:
Lecture #10 – Threads, Messages & Thread Pools
Lecture #11 – The BroadcastReceiver Class
Lecture #12 – Notifications & Alarms
Lecture #13 - Networking
Lab #5 – Threads: We'll write concurrent, multi-threaded code to load ToDo items from a networked server via background threads (i.e., without blocking the main UI thread).

Week #6:
Lecture #14 – Multi-touch & Gestures
Lab #6a - Gesture Sampler: Students build and application that accepts gesture input, such as using an "X" gesture to delete, using a "?" gesture to show help, etc.
Lecture #15 – Graphics & Animation
Lecture #16 – MultiMedia
Lab #6b - Bubble Popper: We'll write an application to display and animate bubbles (graphics that look like bubbles) on the device's screen. When users touch the screen where a bubble appears, the bubble pops.

Week #7:
Lecture #17 – Sensors
Lecture #18 – Location & Maps
Lab #7a - Obstacle Course: Students build an application that uses the orientation of the device (tilting, rotating, etc.) to guide an object around obstacles.
Lecture #19 – The Service Class
Lab #7b - Broadcast Receiver: We'll build an application that uses a BroadcastReceiver to react when events such as connecting and disconnecting the charger occur. The application also uses a Service to complete background processing when power and network connectivity conditions permit.

Week #8:
Lecture #20 – The ContentProvider Class
Lecture #21 – DataManagement I
Lecture #22 – DataManagement II
Lab #8a - Data Management (SQL): Students develop a database for storing and retrieving multimedia notes with textual tags.
Lab #8b - Mutlimedia Notes Content Provider: Students extend the multimedia notes database so multimedia notes can be shared via a ContentProvider across multiple applications.

Final Project: Data Collection Games

We'll implement the front end of a complex handheld application involving many of the concepts presented in the class.
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See https://www.coursera.org/course/android for more details
 
AlphaJohn said:
Make it official?

Free Online Programming Handheld Systems with Android Cert from Maryland Uni starting Jan



See https://www.coursera.org/course/android for more details
Click to expand...

How does this work? release videos? sorry haven't gotten to read the site yet.

edit

Found this
Each lesson will consist of video presentations, divided roughly into 5-10 minute sections. After each section, I will provide an activity/assessment, containing questions/tasks to help ensure that the students have understood that section of the video.

The activities will also include questions related to the current video section, supplementary information, “Food For Thought” discussion, and "flashback" questions, which challenge the students to think about something we have discussed in a previous lesson.

Each week's videos will be accompanied by a lab exercise consisting of an assignment write-up, partially completed source code, and executable test cases. The students will run the test cases on their own computers to determine whether they've successfully completed the lab.
Click to expand...
 
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Found another cool site, well more like a wiki for development: https://github.com/thecodepath/android_guides/wiki

About:
We have guides for everyone whether you are beginner, intermediate or advanced. Want to learn how to use the ActionBar or the ins and outs of fragments? We got that. Want to learn about testing or how to build flexible user interfaces for multiple devices? We got you covered. We don't teach you the "theoretical way" from a book. We cover exactly the things we use every day as we are developing apps for contracts.

Motivation:
Ever been frustrated finding information on outdated one-off blog posts and tutorials that has since become irrelevant? How many times were you googling only to find your answer only on a 2 year old StackOverflow post? We believe there's got to be a better way. Why not have the community work together to create useful and detailed documentation for every aspect of Android (or any platform)? There's absolutely no reason that we should have to make due with outdated, vague or un-editable content anymore.

Read about our mission to change the way engineers learn new technologies and we would love for you to get involved! In addition, we are a fledgling startup so if you like this guide and what we are trying to do, please consider following us on twitter @thecodepath or tipping via gittip!
Click to expand...
 
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