KitKat, Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich and Honeycomb. Do any of these sweets strike a chord with you? Most definitely, yes! Well, these are the different versions of Android OS that run your Android phones! Android, arguably is one of the fastest growing mobile operating systems and this weekend, we had a glimpse into what it takes to become an Android app developer.
Mr. Android
On Saturday, the first session of the Master Android Workshop kick-started with a bang at PESIT-BSC. An initiative taken up by the PLUG-IN ( PESIT Libre Software Users Group – India) in association with the MCA Department and the ever-supporting Free Software Movement Karnataka organization. A remarkably cold day, the 1st of March, who knew the surprises that awaited everyone! A crowd of about 80 people turned up on a Saturday morning, (supposedly a holiday) very much proving the positive energy and enthusiasm associated with learning something new.
Courtesy: Rahul Kondi
Well, I should say that the early morning wake up call on a Saturday was truly rewarded. The presenters Yajnesh, Vishal and Jickson pulled off a great show. The day stated with a few installation issues with the Open-JDK and Android-SDK bundles but once everyone was on board, things went on smoothly. Yajnesh’s introduction to Android (the phone we all know) was inspiring in-terms of making the whole concept simpler and understandable. The session’s topics included an introduction to Eclipse, (the powerful IDE) , how Android phones are powerful and what are the various advantages they offer to both end-users and developers.
People glued to their laptops and Vishal in action.
On to some work now! The participants were shown the various features of the Eclipse IDE and how those can be used to make their lives easier. For example a 5-line code to add a button at a specified point on your screen, a button is just dragged-n-dropped from the Tool box. Though I would personally prefer the former, this is the right approach to get beginners to work around and build interfaces. At the closure, the concept of tags was introduced.
Some feedback worth mentioning:
Santhosh, a very active participant,
Worth every penny! A good investment made.
Tejasvi, our friend says,
Got a little boring, but really good though. I learnt a lot.
Sameeksha, another participant says,
I had registered for the sake of it, but I just loved the session! This was my first technical workshop and I could follow whatever the trainers said. Felt good.
Yajnesh, our Android trainer says,
This was the most lively crowd I’ve seen till now. Hoping to have a wonderful time in the coming weeks as well.
From the organizing team, I believe that we had a good time too and learnt a great deal. We sincerely hope that this course on Android proves helpful to all participants.
1 done, 4 more to go! Tick-tock.
Tech talk with Abhi 