Android Development Kickoff

In grad school, I had the opportunity to do some research on mobile devices, and I have been hooked ever since.  Mobile is the future.  I have been really itching to do some Android Development for a long while now.  I did download the SDK a while back (twice actually), but I never got much further than "Hello, World."  I had plenty of ideas, but after researching those ideas, I either waited too long or I already missed the boat.  No more.  My goal is to put an app out by Jan 3rd 2011.  My goal is to have some fun, to learn some things about mobile development, and if possible, make a little money (those school loans could use a nice dent).  

Why Jan 3rd you ask?  Well, I have a little vacation during the holidays, and I read this great post by a googler that said their motto is to "release early, iterate often."  That sounded like a good idea to me, and that is exactly what we expect from Google.  In fact, I find myself really forgiving when Google releases software because I know that they are going to update it...usually within a couple of months.  So, I am going to try to do the same.

Today I downloaded gingerbread (Android 2.3 SDK), got the Hello World up and running again, and learned that Ctrl-Shift-O keyboard shortcut for eclipse automatically inserts the import statements for you (I should have learned that one a while ago).  Hopefully, I will have more to share tomorrow.

I will keep everyone who cares (probably not many ;) ) apprised of my progress on this blog.  I will try to share as many tips as I can to help other Android developers starting out.  If you have any blogging suggestions, writing tips, or Android tips, please let me know.  I can use all the help I can get :P  Wish me luck!!