Waypoint Reached

As previously mentioned, my plan to get into Android development is pretty methodical.

1. Get comfortable with Java.
2. Get comfortable with Android.

Pretty thorough, right? :P

Today, I finished working through the resources mentioned in my previous post. I've typed through every tutorial; hit countless bugs; pimped many of the tutorials with my own additions; hit more bugs and done all kinds of other exciting things! Adding it all together I've probably gone through about 100 to 150 hours of work to get to where I am now. (My girlfriend being away for a fortnight helped! :P )

While I'm a long way from actually being able to call myself a developer, I feel that I have enough of a grasp for the basics that I can now move onto step 2 and start working through the Android tutorials. 

Not much of a blog post I know, but I feel pretty excited about the momentum I've maintained and at the same time a bit annoyed that I haven't been able to post many updates during that time. 

I hope to post more now that I'm moving onto Android proper and start to work through any of its particularities. 

So, time to get back to work and say "Hello Android"!

First Post!

Well, here I am on the soapbox, what now?

I first got interested in Android back in 2008 just after tying myself into a two year contract with SFR (~ the French Vodafone) on a Samsung SGH-F490. A decent phone but it became dated pretty quickly, despite its 5 Mp camera°. 

My laptop at the time was on Vista and I got so frustrated that I made the jump to Linux*. I got interested in F/OSS vs. top-down (read: paternalistic) business models and that led me to discover Android just as the G1 was being launched Stateside. 

There was still the problem of that two year contract but as it's coming to its end this April, I finally got my hands on my first piece of Android hardware a few weeks ago... The Google Nexus One. 

I then realised that the people I know fall into three categories. People who:

1. Know of Android's existence but are total fanbois (sorry Sam, but it's true and you know it!)
2. Have never heard of it.
3. Me.

I decided to resolve this with a blog that only one of those groups will likely ever read. I've always been mature that way.

°And it had this really annoying "physical lock"/"touchpad lock" double team that made hanging up on a call like playing with imaginary Chinese stress balls.

*Ubuntu, Mint, Puppy and a handful of others from time to time, I now use both Xubuntu and Ubuntu but suggest Mint to anyone who asks.