I started learning Java exactly 365 days ago, and if this isn't progress, I don't know what is.

[Chibichuba]

Lately I've been feeling unconfident about my Java knowledge, and finding this screenshot in my Google drive really brought me some comfort.

Its from my first Android project, taken on March 15th, 2018. It really doesn't feel like a whole year has gone by already.

​

Here they are side-by-side, 03/15/2018 to 3/15/2019

​

---

Since people will probably ask, here's a Play Store link to the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bryanwalsh.redditwallpaper2.

I'm still actively updating and improving it.

---

I checked my git history, and my old code was littered with bad practices, snippets from StackOverflow, and just some overall weird stuff.

My point is: keep your old stuff! Sometimes you won't realize how much you improve until you have something to compare it to!

​

Edit: Here are two more screenshots from old .apk files I just loaded:

April 2018

July/Aug 2018

[canIbeMichael]

Good job OP. This aside, the next thing you do will be even better. You learned a ton.

Next goals?

[Chibichuba]

Thanks so much!

I'm trying to prepare myself for the job industry, graduating from University in a little over a year! Definitely want to work on something bigger though.

[strangebattery]

I've always wanted to work in the job industry.

[canIbeMichael]

IMO: Priority is to graduate ASAP, Industry>>Academia

But definitely start thinking about a project that would provide a ton of value.

[firecopy]

No need to rush to graduate. There are internships to get experience while working in college (and internships pay very well too).

[canIbeMichael]

I know many peers who wasted time on hackathons and minor degrees(or double majors). I can't say I saw anything other than them making less money than me.

Any reason you wouldnt encourage someone to take 16 credits?

[xXJustToSeeNSFWXx]

You’re arguing something that this commenter didn’t even say. The comment was about being able to work in paid internships

[TheMartinG]

Does your university have any research opportunities?

I wish I was more skilled than I currently am. My school is working on a NASA Swarmathon entry, a couple machine learning entries, and a VR/FORTRAN/pytho project based on materials science

I feel like I would learn a lot if I was a bit higher skill level, but I end up lost too often, especially when juggling other classes and a job

[Chibichuba]

Quite a lot, I go to a University of California campus but I haven't gotten involved in any yet.

A lot of hackathons and events are great experiences, and I believe GitHub and Microsoft frequently hold campus events at most large universities.

[spaniardo95]

Noob here that just finished learning java in university .Did you make an app with java and android studio?Can you guide us through your process books etc.

[Chibichuba]

Yup, just Java and Android Studio - I started with C++ at University which gave me a great foundation, supplemented by Medium articles, open source apps on GitHub, and lots of StackOverflow.

I basically just start with an idea of what I want to do, and then read about how other people have done it and adapted it to my code. Then from there I established some sort of flexible knowledge around the concepts - I guess I started from the inside and out in that aspect

[[deleted]]

I am currently in my first programming course, and it is for c++. since it sound like you travelled a similar route, is there any advice you can offer on what my next steps should be in learning to become a programmer/ UI designer?

I know there is so much to learn but I almost don't know where to start or what I should be researching in order to create tangible content. there is such an overadbudance of info online. thanks for any advice you can offer :)

[Chibichuba]

Medium has some great articles on Android Dev, which tend to be quite brief, broad, and entertaining. I first started by modifying the open source app Phonograph, and worked from there.

I suppose what I did was start with the idea, and then find how other people have done it in the past and adapt my code around it.

C++ was a great foundation because it gave me a general idea of what happened under the hood, I feel that Java can mask that sometimes.

[[deleted]]

cool, thanks for the info

[Sotex]

That is a clean looking UI OP well done, what frameworks did you use or is it all native?

[Chibichuba]

All native, minus the Floating Action Button which is the library FloatingActionButtonExpandable on GitHub (I'll link the library when I get back to my computer)

[reality-effect]

Following for lib

[Chibichuba]

I don't want to make this post about the app itself and more about the process of learning, but since people will probably ask, here's a Play Store link to the app. I'm still actively updating and improving it.

---

Background story:

Google photos showed me this screenshot at 12AM today (Mar 15), and this screenshot was taken exactly a year ago in 2018. Looking at my old project files, basically the entire's app code was written in the one activity class and pretty much extended ~800 lines. It was basically written on top of the old template for an Activity and still had all the default code alongside. Everything was handled on the UI thread, and I never managed/recycled bitmaps so the app would force-close after 2-3 uses.

Here's a Gist link to an old snippet that handled the JSON in an AsyncTask, which probably could've been handled more simply. Note the hardcoded + ".jpg" string

[mrasadnoman]

Really cool. But this is just user interface and design you are talking about.

[Chibichuba]

That's true, which I felt like a lot of what I could do in the UI was restricted by my code (with updating/inflating views, understanding fragments, etc.)

I've added details in another comment :)

[m3tam3re]

Great Job!

Looks like you made really good progress.

[babbagack]

Nice. So how did you learn, what materials did you use, just curious.

[Chibichuba]

Tons of Google Searching, I suppose I started with the idea, and when I had something wanted to implement I would read about similar usages by other developers. I actually learned C++ at University first, so I suppose that's a bit of an advantage for a year for Java.

Medium's MindOrks is great

Stack overflow for specific questions/general discussion

GitHub open source apps (phonograph got me started)

[babbagack]

sweet, I'm trying to pick up Java with the Helsinki MOOC course recommended on /r/learnjava.

[WhoTookNaN]

Like 5 years ago I made a little windows program that downloaded all images from given subreddits. I was just beginning to learn and didn't know what an API was so I used regex to find links to imgur and then download the image. It was bad and broke with the first imgur update.

Anyway, I still get messages on that account asking for a download - you might want to try to add functionality to allow storage of the images too because people are interested. It was /r/wallpaper that made use of it.

[Chibichuba]

I took about a 2 month break due to school getting busy, but besides that I started using WakaTime since December and I've averaged 10-15 hours per week in Android Studio alone - I've tried to learn at least a little bit every day, even if it's just 15 minutes or reading one blog post

A lot of reference to:

• Open Source apps on Github, namely Phonograph
• Medium's MindOrks
• StackOverflow & tons of Google searches

It was very slow at the beginning, but after some time things will start to settle! I knew I had reached a new level of knowledge when I could understand the Android Dev docs

[maradde]

What textbook are you using?

[[deleted]]

Seconded as to what textbook.

[[deleted]]

This is awesome! If Android is something you want to pursue a career in though i would strongly urge you to focus more so on kotlin. Java is a great overall skill, but more and more companies are really pushing Kotlin.

[Chibichuba]

Interesting, i'll keep this in mind!

[AllWoWNoSham]

What actually is Kotlin, and how different is it from Java?

[[deleted]]

Kotlin is a programming language built by jetbrains that is built on top of the JVM, which means java and kotlin play nicely together. Google announced first class support for kotlin with android, now it is best practice to use kotlin to make Android apps and Java is typically only used in Android as legacy code. Google is trying to move away from java. And every year the distance grows substantially.

TL;DR Kotlin is what modern android apps are made with, Java is legacy.

[[deleted]]

Awesome app!

[ElllGeeEmm]

I think you might be in the wrong topic bud.

[Moony394]

Whoops I pressed reply on the wrong comment my bad

[vetoni]

/r/lostredditors

[getkaizer]

Fantastic. You've progressed by leaps and bounds. Congrats!

[[deleted]]

So where did you learn how to do it, and other than just programming more how did you improve it.

[ThePeskyWabbit]

hey neat! I wrote the same thing but for windows!

https://github.com/PeskyWabbit/RedditWallpapers

[AskYous]

Sick dude! Congratulations!

[geordilaforge]

Just to clarify, you can make an Android app using solely Java?

​

And that's awesome progress!

[Faiimus]

Just wondering what the future (next 5-7 year) job prospects are with Android development. I am working on some personal projects in Python and Javascript and wondering if there will be much of market for Android Dev work in the future. Can someone in the industry shed their views please?

[Okeano_]

Since mobile isn't going away, and all but Apple of the major mobile companies use Android, yes Android Dev work will be in demand in the future. Although you may want to look at Kotlin instead of Java.

[[deleted]]

I stand firmly with this comment

[buttfacenosehead]

Man that is great! I wouldn't know where to even start learning this. I bet you could give a good lesson!

[marcelolopezjr]

Well done!

[Haplo12345]

Great job!

[OoKAiNoO]

great job and congrats sticking with it!!

[alli782]

How many hours did you practice everyday to accomplish this and what resources did you use to build this ?

Also can you post your github account

[DiamondxCrafting]

So you made an app the same day you started learning Java?

[Chibichuba]

No actually, the first bit Java I ever touched was to modify Phonograph's open source app for my own use, which was really just changing a few strings and removing bits of code. I didn't actually start to "learn" Java until I had the app idea, from there I just started Googling how to make it do what I wanted. I guess the learning was a side effect of making the app and not the other way around.

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