Anyone here do any mobile development?

[Renegade]

Does anyone here do any mobile development?

Android, Blackberry, Symbian, etc. Anything?

[wraith808]

I've been getting into iOS development (that's why I originally bought my macbook).  Does that count?

[Ath]

I bought my first Android phone 2,5 years ago (and my second 6 months ago), and read the Google Android development docs with the intention of creating a killer-app, but never actually created any Android app (other than the obligatory demo-stuff).
Time and ideas are lacking..., so if you have a good idea, but no resources, I could jump into that

[Renegade]

I've been getting into iOS development (that's why I originally bought my macbook).  Does that count?

Yep. iOS counts too. (There are more out there as well.)

What kind of stuff are you working on? Has Xcode driven you past the edges of sanity yet?

I bought my first Android phone 2,5 years ago (and my second 6 months ago), and read the Google Android development docs with the intention of creating a killer-app, but never actually created any Android app (other than the obligatory demo-stuff).
Time and ideas are lacking..., so if you have a good idea, but no resources, I could jump into that

Well, I think a good way to go about things is to take a very small application and extend it onto the new platform that you're planning on getting into.

I've been doing a lot of Android stuff (all theory) in Java and C++ for a few years now, but finally made the jump into actually DOING some with a release (yesterday).

My little practice app is "Frackin' Reserve!" It's a small, relatively simple program that I've done a Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and web edition for, and now an Android version:

http://cynic.me/2013/01/27/frackin-reserve-for-android/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.renegademinds.frackinreserve

It's nice because it's a fun little educational program that I just port to new platforms. That gives me time to focus on the cool stuff in the platform, and forget about the core code and all that.

So, if you've got some minor project (the smaller the better I think), then it might be worthwhile to just jump in with that to get your feet wet.

Along the way you learn some of those "gotchas", e.g. I had to uninstall Java & and reinstall Java 6 once I had it in the market as once it is in the market, if it was built with Java 7, things go badly and it won't install - despite numerous tests in emulators and devices.

The publishing process from inside MonoDevelop is pretty smooth too. I was quite happy once I got the hang of it. Simple. Fast. No messy, bothersome 50 mile long command line crap commands. Well, creating a keystore, but that's just done once and they lay out an excellent example so that you don't need to learn 100% of the ins and out of the keystore.exe program.

I'm sure you can think of a "mini-app" that might be fun. I think the key is to have something small and fun to do, then follow it through to completion. It helps give you more ideas along the way.

BTW - For android, "layouts" are a bit tricky. Things cascade in a way that you'd not really expect so much. It's much more like creating a GTK# app than a Windows forms app.

[mouser]

I'm all set up for Android and Ipad/IPhone development -- but only done some quick experimenting with both platforms.. I need some inspiration and ideas..

[Renegade]

I've been thinking about a few things I can do. At the moment, I'm considering doing some content-driven applications, but I have enough on my plate at the moment that I don't need to over-extend myself.

Frackin' Reserve has been a great little application for me though.

I did a Windows version, then a web edition, then a Linux/Mac OS X version (requires Mono), and FINALLY got an Android version done.

Check out the Android version here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.renegademinds.frackinreserve

It's a very simple little program, but I put enough stuff in there to play around when doing it for a new platform. There's a bit of logic, some math, some UI updating, a couple Activities, Google AdViews, some network permissions, etc. etc.

Overall, it was a great way to "get my feet wet" in a more meaningful way. We all piddle around with different platforms and languages and stuff, but without actually having something at the end of the day to show for it, it all kind of feels a bit hollow.

Now, realistically very few people will ever download it, but oh well. It did help with the motivation and idea problem. I'm in a much better position now to come up with new ideas for Android.

[wraith808]

Yep. iOS counts too. (There are more out there as well.)

What kind of stuff are you working on? Has Xcode driven you past the edges of sanity yet?

Mouser actually answered for me...

but only done some quick experimenting with both platforms.. I need some inspiration and ideas..

And again, Jetbrains to the rescue- I have used XCode very little. I'm using AppCode, and it's fine.

[Renegade]

And again, Jetbrains to the rescue- I have used XCode very little. I'm using AppCode, and it's fine.

How does it compare to Visual Studio, Eclipse, or MonoDevelop?

Xcode is just hellish to use. You have to admire the level of patience/masochism for Xcode developers. They put up with a lot of crap.

(FWIW - I think Visual Studio 2008 was the end of the best feature in Visual Studio - they dropped dynamic help in there, which really diminished the value of VS - that was a spectacular feature.)

I'm curious, as I'm using VS, MonoDevelop, and Eclipse now, but really don't like Eclipse.

[hwtan]

Yes, I have done iOS 5, Android 3.0, BlackBerry 5.0 native apps,  WM5 (.NET Framework) apps, Symbian apps (way back when it runs on Psion 5MX and not Nokia) and PalmOS 5 (if anyone still remembers them).

Haven't done much Mobile Apps beside iOS recently, but IIRC, it was less a pain to debugging with XCode than with Eclipse for Android / BlackBerry.
Less "effortless" was WM5. Most fun was PalmOS (remind me of DOS where you get to hook pretty much anything) and major PIA was Symbian.

[mouser]

It's wonderful to see you back here, hwtan! 

[Renegade]

Haven't done much Mobile Apps beside iOS recently, but IIRC, it was less a pain to debugging with XCode than with Eclipse for Android / BlackBerry.

Interesting. Last I used Xcode was a while ago, and it really left a foul taste in my mouth. But they have updated some -- could be worth a look at again. (I was really excited when I got my Mac and pumped up to get busy in Xcode, so I might have had some unrealistic expectations. Probably near about time to give it a shot again.)

[hwtan]

I don't know about you, but what I recall was that iOS / Mac Apps requires a little "paradigm" shift on the developer's part at the beginning.

Objective C and the iOS framework hides the routing of messages and the loading of objects which I noticed confuses developers whom has a strong background in engineering (e.g. if you are used to knowing how control pass over from the event queue / message loop to your code, etc.).

The tool itself was fine for me, especially with the introduction of Xcode 4.

Haven't done much Mobile Apps beside iOS recently, but IIRC, it was less a pain to debugging with XCode than with Eclipse for Android / BlackBerry.

Interesting. Last I used Xcode was a while ago, and it really left a foul taste in my mouth. But they have updated some -- could be worth a look at again. (I was really excited when I got my Mac and pumped up to get busy in Xcode, so I might have had some unrealistic expectations. Probably near about time to give it a shot again.)