Hey, I want to be an Android programmer. Tell me what to do.

How many times have you seen a post on various forums about someone wanting to be an Android programmer? Is there a simple answer? Of course not, programming is not easy and there are piles of things you end up doing during any given day.

Wait a minute there! Isn't all I have to do is learn Java and some Android libraries? Oh, how we all wish but there is a lot more going on and that is just the start. Yes, you need to learn Java (or Kotlin) and you need to learn about the SDK as well but there is a ton more.

Today it hit me I had been in the following in just one day:

1. Java writing the main app code
2. Kotlin working on a utility program to convert iOS plist to Android format
3. Groovy because I was editing the gradle build scripts
4. Bash as I updated my Java version and needed to change my .profile 
5. Various Linux terminal commands
6. Various Git commands on command line and in Source Tree
7. Vector Graphics as I was working on a new image I needed
8. XML for the Android layout manager, string tables and color tables
9. PNG images for new icons
10. REST calls
11. JSON parsing for REST call responses
12. Sublime text editor creating and running macros against text files
13. File manipulation in Finder
14. Looking at ObjC in Xcode that I am converting to Android
15. Using IntelliJ, Android Studio and Xcode

It is not just learning Java and an API. I could not get Adobe Illustrator to do exactly what I wanted to I directly edited the SVG file. How many languages and file formats have I been in today already? Piles of them and I was able to quickly do the list above and I am sure I missed stuff.

Obviously Java, Kotlin and Groovy have a similar syntax so it is not like I am switching from assembler to JavaScript mentally but there are differences so you do have to perform a mental switch.

I don't mess with graphics every day but we have been setting up a number of build flavors this week so I have been doing a lot of graphics work along with "normal" programming. Honestly there is no such thing as normal. I shift around all the time. I decide to write the utilities in Kotlin as something new to learn, it was not required by my job. Glad I did, gives me a better appreciation of the language. Really want v1 to move out of beta before I use it for my Android apps.

Developers have to understand more than just the language they are using. You end up using a lot of tools like Git, Paint.NET, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, different IDEs, text editors and various utilities. Plus you get to keep the OS on your machine updated along with IDE, SDK, Language versions and tools.

Never know when the boss will need your help on a spreadsheet, document or power point as well. You have to be able to run at least a minimal feature set in a ton of tools just to keep up with life as a developer.

I am unsure how a new developer even gets started. I have amassed a large quantity of knowledge over the years. I can apply that to Kotlin when I experimented with it this week. I already knew the IDE, the .plist file format, XML, how to use collections, etc. I was picking up a new syntax but when you start from scratch you are tossed into a tank of sharks. The only way is to start small. Just work on one concept then move on. If you try to do an entire game or program with multiple screens you will go nuts before you get very far.

Life with a Mac a few weeks in

At my new job my development machine is a Mac. Having been a heavy windows user for the last bunch of years but using a Mac on occasion to do some iOS development the change has been pretty easy.

Initial setup took some time as did learning initial command line options. Really everything else is pretty much just like on a PC. You run Eclipse, Sublime Editor, Chrome, Outlook, Finder, Terminal window, Evernote, a music player and various file viewers for images and PDF files. 

Once configured you just have to learn the proper shortcut keys to pull of frequent operations and off you go. This is a MacBook pro and I have a large second monitor. Everything is really fast.

I have been working on parsing XML and JSON files from security firms. Lots and lots of parsing of large files - will not HUGE but big as in 55+meg in size. I tried a number of JSON parsers and finally settled on Jackson as I needed to do streaming parsing and needed the ability to build simple JSON constructs on the fly as one provider uses JSON for request and response while the other two use standard HTTPS: requests with ?name=value params for requests and XML for responses.

Each API has its own set of oddities. Right now I have everything we need parsing and am using pagination to keep the response sizes to something reasonable. Next step will be hooking it all into the production code. Always good to iron out the bugs with simple test applications first.

At this point I really don't even think about being on a Mac. Sure the frame decorations are a bit different than in Windows but Eclipse looks and operates like Eclipse. Chrome is Chrome and sucked over all my settings, bookmarks and extensions. 

If I need a program I can generally find it but there are a lot less free options than on the Windows. Most things cost something or there is one or two free versions. Most programs have already made a number of decisions for you. Unzip something? Put it right where you unzipped it from. Don't ask where you want to put it. Download something? Yep, already gonna do it to the one directory I have chosen. Not a huge deal. I move things around expo facto but there is a lot more hand holding.

I have been kind of surprised at home much time I have spent in Terminal. Using Mac Ports to install software, dealing with CURL and Python etc. Some of this is for testing the API and some has been to get around Finder limitations. Of course I do the same when in Windows. Not that a normal schmuck would do this, as a developer I tend to need to do odd things.

There has been a lot of learning. I have never used CURL, xml_grep or JSON streaming parsing before. I had limited exposure to Python and Tree based JSON parsing. None of the sample code I have gotten for the APIs has been written in Java meaning I must learn CURL, Python etc. to know enough to convert to our target language. I love to learn so it has been a lot of fun for me. Gives you an appreciation for the other languages and utilities.

Working with vendors keeps you on your toes too. Good to have 3 going at same time otherwise you are waiting on one to respond while you have nothing to do which is never good. Keep me busy. Also allows you to spot differences and similarities in the APIs making some coding go faster. If this was split between 3 people that knowledge would not be shared as easily. I have shared many classes between the projects.