A thorough understanding of design and programming is necessary to create Android applications. It typically helps to break down new technology when tackling it for the first time. Even though developing apps for mobile devices frequently necessitates mastery of a number of more complex concepts, if you are an experienced web developer, many of the concepts and technologies involved in Android app development will be equivalent to those you already know. Developers must maintain code flexibility and take into account a variety of user interface scenarios for mobile devices because they have smaller screens, simpler CPUs, and, in the case of Android, many different manufacturers.

What qualifications are needed to become an Android developer? Here is the information you need to know, according to some of our community's sharpest developers.

1. JAVA

Java serves as the foundational language for all Android development. There may be a learning curve when switching to the Java programming language for the first time for those who have obtained the majority of their programming knowledge in languages like JavaScript and Ruby.

Java is object-oriented like JavaScript and Ruby, but it is also stricter about how data types are handled. Defining the types of data that their mobile applications will function with and more carefully allocating limited memory resources requires developers to be much more cautious in their coding.

James Traver, a seasoned Android developer, teaches the Software Engineering Immersive course at Georgia Tech. "In a mobile context, you can't afford to have ambiguity, and Java makes sure that there's no misunderstanding about what each component of your application is trying to do," he explains. Despite writing less code, it is more precise and elegant.

2. UNDERSTANDING OF XML

Data encoding standards for internet-based mobile applications were established with the creation of XML. It is a structured markup language, and you may recognise the angled brackets, tag types, and deep layering of elements as belonging to HTML.

In a nutshell, it enables the transmission of consistent information across devices. The core UI definitions for Android applications are created by developers using XML in the Android world.

In the same way that web developers use JavaScript to change the elements in their websites during runtime, developers may likewise create Java code that updates layout elements after the Android application has already launched. The ability to understand the fundamentals of XML, however, is crucial for Android developers.

3. ANDROID SDK

Although the term "Software Development Kit" may conjure up images of a suitcase filled with spy gadgets, it is essentially only a fancy moniker for a collection of pre-packaged code. The Android SDKs are Java modules that provide programmers access to features on mobile devices, including the camera and accelerometer.

The Gradle library is one of the Android SDK's essential parts. Let's imagine you wish to connect your app to a social media site like Facebook. To ensure that your code remains well-organized throughout the compilation of your application, you would download a code library (or SDK) from Facebook and then notify Gradle that you are using it. Learning how to assemble an Android application using the multiple SDKs for Android will take a significant amount of time for new Android developers.

The official documentation for each Android SDK contains numerous examples that make it simple to grasp what each package does and how to integrate it into your program, even though this will take some time.

4. ANDROID STUDIO

For Android developers, Android Studio is the go-to integrated development environment (IDE). Built on top of the reputable IntelliJ IDE, Android Studio offers excellent out-of-the-box support for several of the most popular Android SDKs.

 

Numerous other features that developers anticipate from a fully equipped IDE are also present in Android Studio. As you type, code completion assists in providing auto-complete recommendations. Code debuggers allow you to go through your code to find the error's root cause.

Even more sophisticated tools, such as memory and CPU monitors, are available to developers to ensure that their code will run efficiently on mobile devices. Both inexperienced and seasoned Android developers alike must have Android Studio.

5. APIS

You'll most likely wish to communicate with a variety of other services as an Android app developer. For instance, you could wish to let your users check the stock market or access a calendar from a third-party site.

The majority of Android app development companies have APIs and can explain to you in detail how to securely and consistently query them for data. You can use any existing API at your discretion, but Google also makes it incredibly simple for your Android app to connect to its own APIs.

 

For instance, it's simple to use Google APIs to track your customers' locations, allow them to look for nearby things to visit, and make use of maps inside your app. You should become accustomed to researching the subtleties of various APIs and understand that no two APIs are precisely comparable.

6. DATABASES

Most of the data handled by your app won't be present on your smartphone at any given time if it deals with a lot of data. Your app will likely communicate with a database not located on your phone instead. Simple APIs are available from cloud providers like Firebase or Parse to store data in the cloud and make it accessible from many devices.

Additionally, these platforms frequently include Java libraries you may integrate into your app, making it simple to cache some data on the user's device. If you want to allow users to access the app while they are offline, it is crucial that the data between local storage and the distant database is synced.

Android comes with built-in support for utilizing SQL to communicate with a SQLite database, which is another way to save data locally. Regardless of how you decide to manage data in your application, you'll need to learn about databases, how to query them, and how to use that data in your program.

7. MATERIAL DESIGN

In contrast to rivals like Apple, Google has generally not kept a uniform visual aesthetic throughout its products. Those circumstances have changed recently. Google has published a set of cutting-edge interface standards and principles dubbed Material Design that are being used across all of its products.

These guidelines give advice on how to stack different components on the screen and employ particular styling elements like drop shadows. If you've used the new Google Drive app or the new Inbox by Gmail app on a mobile device, you've probably seen Material Design in action.

Google advises Android developers to utilize these recommendations as a starting point for their own user interfaces, however it's not required. An excellent fundamental grasp of Material Design ideas may be obtained in the online documentation.