Android Application Development All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3

Creating an Android App

IN THIS CHAPTER

Creating an elementary Android app

Troubleshooting troublesome apps

Testing an app on an emulator or a real device

In a quiet neighborhood in south Philadelphia, you might find a maternity shop named Hello World. You can find the store on your way to Pat’s (to get a delicious Philly cheesesteak). You might even take a picture of the store’s sign as a sort of inspiration for the content of this chapter: the Hello World app.

A Hello World app is the simplest program that can run in a particular programming language or on a particular platform. (For an interesting discussion of the phrase Hello World, visit http://www.mzlabs.com/JMPubs/HelloWorld.pdf.) Authors create Hello World apps to show people how to get started writing code for a particular system.

So, in this chapter, you make an Android Hello World app. The app doesn’t do much. (In fact, you might argue that the app doesn’t do anything!) But the example shows you how to create and run new Android projects.

Creating Your First App

A typical gadget comes with a manual. The manual’s first sentence is “Read all 37 safety warnings before attempting to install this product.” ...