Then, like an idiot I tried my hand at Android. First, I had to learn some Java, but the constructs were not too different from ‘C’, and Tcl (The C-like Language), so if you know any programming, Java is pretty ‘easy’ – though most people agree Java is not exactly ‘easy’ ;-)

And, yes, the SDK seems to be indispensable. I was a bit disappointed, but Eclipse is pretty good. Sure, there is ADT, plug-ins, and of-course, these Java libraries. Somehow, a developer is magically supposed to know a certain class ‘exists’, and what the qualified name is. But, that is ultimately why it takes so long to setup your SDK. It does take the guess work out of knowing the fully qualified class names – but it still doesn’t fix the how-the-heck are you supposed to know what classes are out there(?) problem.

For instance, HTML, and CSS (CSS2) are fairly well documented and include ALL of the valid ‘tags’ or commands for that language. For java, it seems, you just have to have a crystal ball to know there is a ‘class’ that exists, and its name, to do the functions you need. Here, even the SDK falls far short.

Let me not get started on the Android documentation, particularly the official developer site – it is so weak and insufficient. All I can figure is it is ‘job security’ for developers that are otherwise average, normal human beings – not the ‘whiz kid techno-beasts’ they want you to believe they are.

I want to see how this runs.

Thanks for the interest!

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