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Android Developer Reference

This is the official Google Android site for developers. Here you will find all the documentation you need to develop rich android applications.

You will most likely visit this site often.

All tutorials and sample code are credited to their respected owners.

Portions of this page are reproduced from work created and shared by the Android Open Source Project and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 2.5 Attribution License.

What you need to know

Below is the recommended knowledge, required tools, and skills needed to program for Android.

  1. While it is not required, knowing both Java and XML is recommended since these are the coding languages you will need to use to write Android Apps.
    (More on this point to follow).

    A good place to start learning how to develop on Android is here at http://developer.android.com/index.html. This is a site run by Google and the Android development people. This site discusses many things about Android and how to get set up to create an Android application.
  2. There are alternatives to writing Android Apps by using Third-Party Software to write it for you. These creation softwares allow you to create full running apps right outta the box, but you will still need to know some Java and XML to add additional functionality to these apps. See Setting Up your Environment to learn more about these additional options.
  3. Before you can actually publish your apps on the market, you will need to create a developer account which you can create by clicking on "learn more" under publish on the right side of the link listed above. It does cost $25 though to create a developer account. With this account, you can only publish free apps but by putting in some more information that will be used for tax related stuff, you can charge for your apps.
  4. If you want to get your app recognized by a higher population, you can start by visiting blogs and asking them to review your app. Also, in the developer console, which you get after you have created your developer account, you can choose if you want to opt into advertising your app.
  5. Well, again we recommend blogs as well as forums. You could go around to Android centered blogs and forums and read as much as you can about Android Development. A highly recommend site is: http://www.xda-developers.com/ as it contains a huge amount of resources.
Ok, That should hopefully get you started. Be sure to check out some of the links on the Resources page for more information.