How android apps are developed

Developing Android Apps

Learn Android fundamentals

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Android Kotlin Developer

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About this Course

As the first course in the Android Developer Nanodegree, Developing Android Apps is the foundation of our advanced Android curriculum. This course blends theory and practice to help you build great apps the right way. In this course, you’ll work with instructors step-by-step to build a cloud-connected Android app, and learn best practices of mobile development, and Android development in particular.

Course Cost

Timeline

Approx. 60 hours

Skill Level

intermediate

Included in Product

Rich Learning Content

Interactive Quizzes

Taught by Industry Pros

Self-Paced Learning

Join the Path to Greatness

Master Android development with Kotlin and build professional apps for the world’s most popular mobile platform using Android Studio and Kotlin.

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Developing Android Apps

Enhance your skill set and boost your hirability through innovative, independent learning.

Nanodegree Program

Android Kotlin Developer

Built in collaboration with Google, this program will prepare you to become a professional Android developer and allow you to create a diverse portfolio of projects to show employers.

Course Leads

Dan Galpin

Lyla Fujiwara

Reto Meier

Asser Samak

James Williams

Cezanne Camacho

Michael Lustig

Jocelyn Becker

What You Will Learn

lesson 1

Creating Project Sunshine

• Learn how to create and run a simple Android app
• Create simple layouts for Android
• Learn about the Android Studio IDE

lesson 2

Loading Data from the Internet

• Connect to the Internet and communicate with web APIs
• Learn about threading and how to make requests without slowing down your app
• Learn how to add menus to your app

lesson 3

RecyclerView

• Learn about the components that convert a list of data into visual UI elements

lesson 4

Intents

• Learn the difference between Explicit and Implicit Intents
• Learn how to navigate inside your apps using intents
• Learn how to create Intents that apps outside your control can respond to

lesson 5

The Application Lifecycle

• Understand the phases of the Android application lifecycle
• Learn how to persist data between orientation and other changes

lesson 6

Preferences

• Allow users to customize some aspects of your app
• Consider when to omit or add a preference

lesson 7

Content Providers

• Learn how Content Providers provide an interface to share data
• Consume data from an already existing ContentProvider

lesson 8

Android Architecture Components

• Learn how to use Room, LiveData, ViewModel and Lifecycle components
• Understand how architecture components can help you build robust and efficient apps

lesson 9

Background Tasks

• Run jobs in the background of an app
• Create notifications and schedule long-running background processes

lesson 10

Completing the UI

• Build a well-organized, accessible UI for your app
• Try different layouts, views, viewgroups, and methods of databinding
• Design your UI for users who speak different languages

lesson 11

Polishing the UI

• Add visual polish to your apps with different layouts, fonts, and colors
• Use design principles to create apps that look great across multiple form factors

Prerequisites and Requirements

This course is intended for students with at least 1 year of programming experience in Java or another object-oriented programming language (for example: C++, Objective C or Python).

If you are new to programming, we recommend taking Android for Beginners, which we created with Google for students just like you!

Also, Udacity’s Intro to Java is a helpful background if you’re looking to refresh your Java skills.

You will be expected to download Android Studio in order to follow along with the instructors throughout the course. For guidance on the install process, take our How to Install Android Studio mini-course.

In addition, you should be comfortable working with code on GitHub.

Access to an Android device is helpful — but not required — to complete the final project.

See the Technology Requirements for using Udacity.

Why Take This Course

With over 1 billion Android devices already activated, Android represents an incredible opportunity for developers.

As Android continues to grow beyond smartphones, it will become the brains behind invisible, ubiquitous cloud-connected computing. The skills you learn in this course will help you build awesome apps for smartphones and tablets today, and propel you towards exciting opportunities in Android’s future.

By the end of this course, you’ll build a cloud-connected Android app, and understand the tools, principles, and patterns that underlie all Android development. You’ll understand the challenges associated with developing for the mobile environment (and how to overcome them), learn how to build a great user experience for Android devices, and apply this knowledge to your own projects.

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How are Android Apps Developed?

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If you want to learn how Android apps are developed, you have come to the right place. Native Android apps need to utilize specific development tools and programming languages in order to maximize the capabilities of the native features present on Android devices. Native mobile app development requires specialization, so while there are equivalencies when comparing Android development to iOS development, Android app development is completely different and unique.

Android developers will utilize tools like Android Studio and Android SDK. The primary programming languages used to develop Android apps are Kotlin and Java. Although, C++ can also be used in part to develop Android apps. Let’s take a closer look at the programming languages and the development tools used to create Android apps.

Native Android Programming Languages

Before Android development can begin in earnest, a programming language must be chosen. The language used to program the Android app will be an essential part of the app development process. This choice needs to be made with the longevity of the app and the skills of your developers in mind. Native Android development uses one of two programming languages:

Up until just recently, Java was the official programming language of Android app development. Despite the fact that Java is no longer the official language promoted by Google for Android development, Java is still widely used and heavily supported by Google and the Play Store. Java has been around for a long time. There is a huge online support community surrounding Java that helps developers find answers to troubleshoot problems and share tips, tricks, and best practices when it comes to using the programming language to develop mobile apps.

The one downside to Java is that for beginners, this language may be too complex to adequately utilize. Java uses a number of different topics that beginners may find difficult to master, including:

• Null pointer exceptions
• Checked exceptions
• Concurrency
• Constructors

Additionally, Android SDK adds another layer of complexity when used with Java. All things considered, Java is a great programming language to use for Android app development, even if it is a little difficult to grasp. While Java is no longer the official language of Android development, it is still heavily supported by Google and online communities. Developers can use Java to build beautiful, native Android apps.

Kotlin

Kotlin is the official programming language of Android development since Google decided this in 2019. The cool thing about Kotlin is that it is interoperable with Java. This means you can add Kotlin code to your Java app and vice versa. If you want to migrate your Java app to Kotlin, you can do it in stages instead of all at once, thanks to Kotlin’s interoperability. Kotlin also runs on the Java Virtual Machine. Plus, while Kotlin is a native Android programming language, it is also cross-platform, which means it can be used in other development projects and shared with iOS developers.

Kotlin is much simpler than Java. This gives it a leg up in Android development. When compared to Java, Kotlin code is:

• Shorter
• Easier to read
• Safer/more secure

Kotlin’s advantages are due in large part to its simplicity. Since Kotlin requires fewer lines of code, it is easier to read, maintain, and secure. In short, Kotlin is a modern programming language that is designed to be simple and powerful.

Today, Google estimates that about 60 percent of the top 1000 Android apps on the Play Store are made with Kotlin. Clearly, Kotlin is the future of Android development, but Java is still an important part of the conversation.

Other Languages

Of course, you don’t necessarily have to use Kotlin or Java to create an Android app. However, you will need to utilize additional frameworks and development tools in order to use other programming languages in Android app development. Android apps are also built with:

While you may be more comfortable or familiar with the programming languages on the list above, if you want to create a great Android app, you should consider using Java or Kotlin.

What Development Tools are Used to Create Android Apps?

Now that you know more about the programming languages used by Android developers, you need to learn more about the key development tools used in order to get a complete picture of how Android apps are developed. The two most important tools in Android app development are:

Android apps can be created without using either of these tools, but both of them, especially when they are used together, make developing Android apps easy. Plus, these tools give you access to a lot of powerful design and programming features that make Android apps more powerful and aesthetically pleasing.

Android Studio

Android Studio is the official development environment for building Android apps. This development environment gives developers the tools to create apps for all types of Android devices. Some of the key features of Android Studio include:

• Visual layout editor
• APK analyzer
• Fast emulator
• Intelligent code editor
• Real-time profilers
• Flexible build system

Visual Layout Editor

The visual layout editor in Android Studio gives developers the ability to drag, drop, and visually manipulate their User Interface (UI). The source code of the app is automatically updated to reflect the visual changes that you make to your UI. Constraints allow Android developers to create stunning, beautiful User Interfaces and ensure that they retain their spacing, sizing, and more, even when the size of the screen or the device changes. The visual layout editor in Android Studio also gives developers the ability to preview their designs on any device or screen size.

APK Analyzer

Most apps have a lot of content. If you can find a way to reduce unnecessary content, you can improve the performance of your app. The Android Studio APK Analyzer gives developers the ability to inspect the various content of their app’s APK file even if their app was not built using Android Studio. Developers can even use this tool to compare APK files between different versions of their app.

Fast Emulator

Google Studio’s emulator gives developers the ability to install and run their apps on a variety of devices without having to actually have a physical device. This gives them the ability to test different app configurations and features before they deploy.

Intelligent Code Editor

The intelligent code editor feature present in Android Studio helps developers work quickly, more efficiently, and write better code. Think of this feature like autofill or autocorrect. The intelligent code editor supports Kotlin, Java, and C++. This feature recognizes the code being used and then autocompletes commands by giving developers a list of possibilities to choose from after they begin typing.

Real-time Profilers

The Android Studio comes loaded with tools that provide real-time statistics on your app’s CPU, network activity, and memory. This gives Android developers the ability to analyze incoming and outgoing network payloads, identify performance bottlenecks, and much more. Real-time data insights are a crucial tool that can be used to optimize performance and User Experience.

Flexible Build System

The build system in Android Studio is powered by Gradle. Android developers can customize their build and create multiple build variants from a single development project. This ability allows developers to keep all of their projects organized and focused without having to account for variant builds for each device.

Android SDK

Android SDK is a software development kit that was developed for the Android Studio. It comes fully integrated with Android Studio and is constantly updated as new Android updates are rolled out. However, you could also use Android SDK independently of Android Studio. This kit includes a collection of software development tools and libraries that contain everything necessary to code and test Android apps.

Most Android developers use Android SDK and Android Studio together. Why? Android SDK was optimized for use in Android Studio. These two development tools were built to work great together. Furthermore, Android SDK in Android Studio gets automatically updated with the latest Android OS releases, and thanks to Android Studio’s intelligent code editor feature support for Java, Kotlin, and C++ is handled automatically too.

If you are already using Android Studio, it is very easy to install Android SDK directly from your development environment.

Final Thoughts on Android Development

Android app development makes up a major portion of all mobile app development projects. Every app goes through its own development process depending on the team building it, how it functions, etc. However, the best Android apps are developed using native programming languages, Java or Kotlin, and take advantage of the impressive suite of development tools given to developers in Android Studio and Android SDK. If you want to learn more about specifically developing your app idea with Android Studio and Kotlin, speak with an app development partner that can walk you through the technical ins and outs of your mobile app development project and offer you guidance rooted in years of industry experience.

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