Posts Tagged chest

I personally like to know what makes developers and community members tick. What got them to where they are today and anything else they want to get off their chest. We recently gave you all a chance to win a copy of his latest book, ” App Inventor for Android; Build Your Own Apps – No Experience Required.”  We were lucky enough to spend some time on the phone with Jason and ask him a few questions as well. I think you all might really enjoy what he had to say about a few things.

Q – Beyond Android, what do you do for your day job?

A – In my life beyond Android I am a high end tech instructor. I teach advanced high end topics to business people and businesses.  I Teach share point, MS Server 2008, linux, SCCM and pretty much any hot Microsoft product. In a nutshell if Microsoft has a certificate to earn, I have it.

Q – What was your first Android device and how did you end up with it?

A – The OG Droid was my starting point into Android. It’s my wife’s fault. I told her how much I wanted one after seeing a co-workers hacked G1. When it came time for upgrades on our account I leaned away due to price. Thankfully my wife knew how depressed I would be if I didn’t get it, so she made me pick it up. She snagged one with me.  I am still sporting it too, I also have Nexus One, but it mostly just sits on my desk collecting dust.

Q – What made you go the Android route in the first place?

A – This is meant in the most positive way possible, I feel the Android community has a total lack of respect for a beautiful piece of technology. Meaning that when Android came out more people asked what can I do with it then look just at what it does. Unlike iPhone users who just keep plugging away at what ever Apple wants to offer.

Q - How did you get involved in app inventor?

A – I spent a great deal of time in Eclipse and SDK attempting to write apps within the first 3 weeks of owning my Droid. It was very frustrating attempting to use and edit XML. Learning all the calls and libraries was not user friendly and learning what was going on was to large to attempt with out neglecting my family. I can’t spend forever learning, I have a life that takes priority to learning something for personal gain. Even knowing some JAVA programming it was to much of an undertaking. When Google announced App Inventor I jumped on the invitation list and waited, mostly impatiently, for my invite. During the long wait I spent a lot of time reading the forums about App Inventor and learning everything I could from what had been posted. I tried to direct people that were experiencing issues to other threads with solutions.  Once approved, I jumped into all examples and then started building my own apps. In the first 2 months or so I built around 150 apps. All the problems I had in the SDK started to make sense thanks to  App Inventor. It taught me things I was unable to grasp in the SDK originally, I was able to take those concepts learned in App Inventor and utilize theme in the SDK. This is such a great tool for anyone, the noob to the professional.

Q – What was the biggest hurdle in writing the book?

A – It was my first book. I can teach people all day long how to use something, but writing a book is a totally different experience. I’d spend a great deal of time writing a chapter and send it for approval, they would hack it all to pieces and send it back for me to fix. It was a very crazy experience to part of. Beyond the writer/publisher interaction my own personal hurdle was to choose what not to write. How do I get all the most important things down for people to understand and not fill the book with a hundred pages of stuff.

Q – Anything else you want to share with our readers?

A – All kinds of things. If you let me talk we will be here for hours. I suppose the more important things that I feel aren’t tied into the book directly, but into Android as a whole. I feel that somethings are made to appear or be difficult to help keep the so called “riffraff” out of realizing their potential. I think App Inventor could be considered a gateway drug. After you try it, you love it, but after a while its just not enough anymore and you move into Eclipse and the SDK and really become an addict. I also feel that the root of all evilness is based at the corporate level. All the CEO’s of the OEM’s and carriers sold their soles to the devil to increase profits and find ways to keep people emptying their pocket books.  Instead of spending time working with the community, they try and prevent it. It seems that is slowly changing with HTC now unlocking their bootloaders, but they will still find a way to convince you to drop another $500 in 3 months. They are all still evil in my mind. As far as apps and development is concerned, If we can eventually level the playing field it would bring more interesting and useful applications to us all. What I think we really need are more people asking, “how does an app work and how can I build one?” Once we get more people involved that have great ideas, the better off we will all be. App Inventor does just that, it let’s more people have access to learning the world of apps and how to create them. It is the Democratization of apps.

I can see what you mean about letting you talk. (Laughs). I am sure many others feel the same way you do, I know I do. One final question.

Q – Do you have any plans to write another book?

A – Ahh, the follow up book question. It always comes at the end. I can only limit my answer to a simple “Yes I do”. I sadly can’t share what is in the works at this time, but if you guys love Android and App Inventor, you should be lining up at the book stores when the current project is completed.

No problem Jason we completely understand. Keep us posted with updates on the next book when you are finally allowed to let the cat out of the bag.

If you happened to miss it earlier, I have posted some information about the book along with a chance to win your own copy. Check it out!