A solid understanding of programming and design is required to develop Android applications. Developers also need to have an understanding of all the steps involved in the creation of an excellent application.
The way you learn how to build Android apps does not matter, whether you went to coding camp or graduated with a degree. If you want to take your Android skills to the next level or transition from a beginner level to a professional level, you need to learn and follow these 7 important things.
1) Architecture of Android applications
In order to create an Android application that meets the needs of the user, you need to adhere to the application architecture consistently and be aware of it even before you start developing.
As a roadmap for building an Android application, the Android architecture plan illustrates how the various components will be organized and tied together. In addition, it provides guidelines that will assist in the development process and force you to make certain sacrifices that in the end will help you construct an application that will be easier to test, expand, and maintain.
2) Programming skills in Java and Kotlin
An essential requirement is knowledge of Java and Kotlin. Learning these languages can seriously transform the Android development process. Every Android developer should be familiar with Java and Kotlin programming languages when developing native apps.
In Kotlin, you can easily write code that works seamlessly with your existing Java code. This means you will have virtually no problems using it when using your existing Java code. Kotlin is actually the first choice over Java for Android development, as Google has announced.
Integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Android’s use Java for development of applications. For those who have gained their programming experience mostly in languages like JavaScript and Ruby, learning Java can be a learning curve.
3) Android Software Development Kit
The term SDK refers to a set of prepackaged code. It allows developers to access mobile devices’ features such as camera and accelerometer through a collection of libraries and tools.
The SDK for the latest version of Android is always released with the new Android version. In order to be able to write programs with the latest features, developers must download and install each version’s SDK. A SDK is the Android software development kit (SDK) that is available for specific versions and technologies of its operating system. Learn how the various libraries in the SDK can be used in different ways to create Android apps by spending some time exploring how they can be pieced together.
4) Studio for Android
Google’s Android Developers use Android Studio as their IDE (integrated development studio). The interface makes development as seamless as possible for Android applications.
With Android Studio, you are developing applications for Android based on the IntelliJ IDEA software from JetBrains. With extensive out-of-the-box support for most of the most common Android SDKs, it offers excellent value.
Knowing how Android studio works is important because it supports PyCharm, Kotlin, Python, and Intellij programming languages.
5) Lifecycle of Android Activities
Google’s Android operating system is an open-source operating system that can carry out a variety of tasks. The Android Activity Life Cycle describes the various states your Android application undergoes during the loading process.
Android’s activity component is one of its most important features. An activity is a location on the screen where you display the UI. In order to learn what an Activity is in Android and what the lifecycle of an Activity is, if you are new to Android development, you need a good understanding of what an Activity is.
6) Adaptive Layout for Constraints
With Android’s Constraint Layout, you can create views for your apps that are adaptable and flexible. With the new Constraint Layout in Android Studio, you can place objects in many different ways. A flat hierarchy allows you to create large, complex and responsive views using this layout. This layout is also animation-compatible.
Android Studio’s constraint layout simplifies the process of building layouts in Android by allowing you to create your UI using only the visual editor. There are several powerful tools included with constraint layout that make it possible to define complex layouts without deep nesting. The developer can put together UIs more easily since the view hierarchy is flattened and can give better performance.
7) Patterns Applied to Android Architecture
The architecture patterns are utilized to separate concerns within the code and to provide the code with a modular design. The following are some of the most commonly used Android architectures.
MVC (Model – View – Controller)
Model-View-Controller (MVC) is an old app architecture that suggests splitting the code into three different layers:
Data Modeling: Using the Model layer, data is sorted according to the domain logic and is communicated with the database and network layers.
ModelView provides a visual representation of data stored within the model, which is a User Interface layer.
There is a layer called a controller that contains core logic. When it learns of the user’s behavior, it updates the model accordingly.
MVP (Model – View – Presenter)
In terms of Android app architecture, the MVP (Model – View – Presenter) pattern is the second iteration. This pattern is still widely recommended for development of new apps.
Model: A layer for sorting data, this layer is responsible for communicating with the database and network layers, as well as handling domain logic
View: A User Interface layer, View provides a visual representation of data and monitors the user’s actions to alert the presenter.
Model fetches data from the presenter and applies UI logic to determine what should be displayed. In addition to managing the view’s state, it takes action in response to user input notifications.
MVVP (Model – View – ViewModel)
MVVP (Model – View – ViewModel) pattern is the third iteration of Android architecture.
Model: This layer describes how data sources are abstracted. A model is used to access and save data, while a viewmodel is used to display it.
This layer contains the information about the user’s action that is sent to the ViewModel.
In ViewModel, data streams are exposed which are elements of the view.
All these patterns are designed to help you organize projects properly so that the Unit Testing can cover all codes. The use of these patterns is also very helpful for maintaining the software, for decoupling, and for adding and removing features; developers can keep track of the various logic parts by following them effectively.
Adding a Few Skills
Along with the above-mentioned languages and skills you need to be familiar with additional back-end technologies such as .Net, Rails, Django, and NodeJS if you are looking to become a full-fledged Android developer. You would gain a thorough understanding of the design of a system and the syntax of the language by learning these additional skills. You don’t need this knowledge to develop android applications because having such knowledge will help you gain a fuller understanding of how middleware and backend interact and work.