Since mobile devices and Android technology have become the norm, there are now dozens of doable different ideas anyone can start either for free or for a very small investment. Besides, Android has succeeded in becoming a popular choice for global consumers for a while, thanks to the thousands of devices it powers. As a result, a lot of developers are attracted towards Android app development.
Now, do you think having a basic understanding of the programming language can make you develop a working app? Of course, you can but making an app that just does the work won’t get you the results you want. While building a career as an Android developer, there are a few important things which must be kept in mind in order to increase the chances of success.
One of the major turn-offs for users is when an app cause problems like sluggish performance and frequent ANRs (App Not Responding). As a result, they find a better alternative in the Play store and abandon your app for good. In the following post, I would like to emphasize on a few Android app development hacks that are beneficial for both rookies as well as experts.
For Rookies
- Knowledge of Language– Being an amateur this is the primary and the most important thing that you need to master in. And one requires having a basic know-how about Java, as it is the primary language. However, Google has officially added support for Kotlin at the Google IO 2017, so you can now use that as well.A basic understanding of one or both of these languages is pretty much essential to begin any development project.
- Android Studio– Also known as a primary IDE (Integrated Design Environment), Android Studio has the tools for fast development of apps. Right from World-class code editing, performance tooling, debugging, a flexible build system, and most importantly, an instant deploy system, the studio can do all the heavy-lifting allowing you to focus on building high performance and quality apps.
- Android SDK– Software development kit (SDK) can be considered as a must-have for developing such kind of apps. It provides API libraries and developer tools necessary to build, test, and debug apps for Android. Android SDK includes libraries, documentation, emulator, debugger, sample code, and tutorials.
- Activity/Fragment– Activity is the entry point of any Android application. It is basically a single screen which consists of controls related to user interface. Thus, every application must have at least one Activity.Whereas, the fragment is a lightweight component held by activity. By combining Activity and Fragment, one can hold controls like Button, Text View, and Radio Buttons etc with which users can give their input or developer can display the information to users.
- Database– Android supports SQLite to store offline data. For those who have no idea about SQLite, it is an open source database and it supports standard relational database features like SQL syntax, transactions, prepared statements etc. It can hold any kind of data like Text, Integer or Real numbers.
- Threads– Threads are nothing but the background tasks. There are times when you want your app to perform some tasks in the background without interfering with the user interaction, you can think of using threads. They will perform operations in the background and notify the user when the task is completed.
For Experts
- Display Bitmaps Efficiently– I am sure you must have come across the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words.” But as a developer, an image is more than just that. It is a sizable weight on the app that must be handled carefully so that it loads smoothly and doesn’t make an app sluggish.
- Developing for all devices– Android devices come in many shapes and sizes all across the globe. And with such high fragmentation, you are entitled to get your app a huge audience world over. By maintaining consistent density for each device type and by using multiple layouts, things can be achieved.
- Choose Libraries Efficiently– Being an experienced professional of a recognized android app development company, I always recommend to search for a library that can get the job done quickly. Getting help from 3rd party libraries can help in accomplishing the task faster. But there are a few precautions that must be taken when using third-party libraries such as:-
- Check for issues that could be caused because of that library
- Check the feasibility of customizationBefore choosing one, just make sure that you perform a thorough research, and check for any known issues of that library
- Proguard– This is a free Java class file shrinker, obfuscator, optimizer, and preverifier. It can be used to make your APK files as small as you need. In addition to this, it detects and eliminates unused fields, classes, attributes, and methods from your app and also optimizes the bytecode and removes any unused code instructions.
- Architecture– Always remember that developing large-scale applications with large teams requires a deep understanding of the different architectures available and the ability to choose the best one for a specific project. Over time, your app goes through a number of change cycles and features addition/removal. Therefore, choosing the right architecture is not just about MVP/MVVM/MVC, but much more than that.
- Contribute to the Community– Though this point is not strictly related to development, but contributing to the community will definitely provide you some help in increasing your knowledge and sharing your expertise with like-minded people.
I hope the post finds you well! Good luck with your future endeavors.