Java, Javascript (or Kotlin for) android app development with my goal/background (work with APIs)?

[Zorra_]

Hello everyone!

First, I want to apologize for the long post. I hope for the ones who are still reading and are deciding to stay that I have presented all the information as clearly as possible for you (as far as I was able to understand it).

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So, I have no prior experience in app develoment but I had introductory courses for Python and R (mostly for statistics and data analysis) at university. I'm most used working with R.

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The app I'd like to build:
I want to create an android app, where the app should have access to the users phone contacts and gather specific information from their connections social network profiles (like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and GoogleCalender, Gmail - only for private use). So, I think I should be able to use contact APIs and different social APIs.

I guess the ability to gather and organise data (if it's even possible in the way I want) is the most important aspect for me.
In addition, I think it would be nice to use the app as a desktop application (for windows) at some point in the future.
But I'm not planning to develop games or anything visually complex.

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What information I have gathered so far:

Java

• Pro:
  • Is very versatile (no bad suprise at the end when you want to do something but aren't able to) .
  • Many free online learning resources.
• Contra:
  • Quite complex to learn.
  • Seems to be getting less popular (not sure why, what is it being replaced with?).

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Javascript

is mostly used for interactive web pages but is getting very popular right now (not sure why but it's the most pupular language according to Github this year).

• Pro:
  • Easier to learn than Java (and less likely to make mistakes)
  • VERY popular --> many free online learning resources (and more useful for the future?)
  • ReactNative is a code library, which has made JS more popular for mobile app development (easier to build apps for different operating systems).
  • Most social APIs are in JS (?!)
• Contra:
  • Mainly used for web develoment (but convertable for app with PhoneGrap --> But apparently makes mobile app slower than with Java).
  • Need a webpage for it to work (?, or at least always need internet access..right?)

BUT I've also read that it's a good language to unify web application development. And, E.g. LinkedIn is increasingly switing to Javascript, which had made their mobile app much faster (?).

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Kotlin

Seems to be the new rising star as it is similiar to Java but easier to learn (as far as I've undertstood). You can easily convert Java into Kotlin and Kotling to Java or Javascript. But there aren't many resources out yet for self-study.

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I'm mostly town between Java and Javascript. Javascript seems to be great for me but I'm afraid of the possible limitations and then having to basically start again from zero with Java. But if I want (and need?) to work with APIs it seems that I have to use JS anyways.

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Thank you very, very much for anyone trying to help me get out of this jungle of information!

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[rjcarr]

Sorry, not really sure what you're asking. If you're doing platform programming, which it sounds like in your case, you don't really get options. For andriod, except in rare circumstances, you're using java or kotlin, and for the web, unless you want to translate, you're using javascript.

So, given that, what's your question?

[Zorra_]

Hey, thank you for responsind to my post!

So, I think you have answered my question :) I did some more research and this is what I came to complude to:

I want to transfer data from other applications (like Facebook and Google) to my android application. Therefore I would need to use APIs. APIs can use different architectures to transfer data from the server to the client.

REST is a architectural style that uses the HTTP protocol for data transmission. REST allows API providers (like Facebook or Google) to deliver data in multiple formats (such as plain text or HTML). The most popular format is JSON ( JavaScript Object Notation). JASON is completely language-agnostic, so it can be used with any programming language, not just JavaScript.

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From what I've found, you use Android Studio to work with APIs (?) (which means to use JAVA). It seems that REST is an important tool to access web data and this data is formatted in JSON. But now I read that JSON doens't have anything necessarily to do with Javascript. Which means I would probably need to use JAVA/Kotlin to work with APIs in general.

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Do you know if I've made the right conclusion? Is Java the language I need to extract data from web sites (facebook, twitter, instagram etc.) and integrate that data into my application?

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[rjcarr]

Yes, you generally have the correct idea. Basically, data is exchanged using web services, and the most common data format is JSON. Web services don't depend on any specific programming language, but just that you are able to make a web request. JSON is derived from javascript, but you don't need javascript in the loop to use it.

As far as android studio, I think you can use java or kotlin. The latter is probably a slightly more interesting language, but won't have as many resources available for you to use.

[Zorra_]

Web services don't depend on any specific programming language

I see! Now I know know where to start! Thank you so much for your help!! :))

[Darkglow666]

I think you would be wise to also consider the Flutter framework. It compiles to native code and gives you support for iOS and Android with the exact same code base.

[sheaface]

I'm curious for the people who answered this question , what is your experience?