Windows PC for app development

[svenh]

Dear forum members,

I intend to start learning to develop apps for Android. My PC is a bit old however, Intel Core i7 920 2.67 GHz from 2009, with 16 GB ram, running Windows 10.

Will this computer be good enough for Android App development? I guess I need decent speed of the build process and I need to be able to run various emulators sufficiently fast.

If not good enough, could you recommend a decent (Windows) modern computer configuration that will not break my bank?

Warm regards,
Sven

 

[Bee1To]

Need Linux for your ide.

 

[gob0]

Using SSD drive (or multiple drives -1 for system, 1 for data-) is a good idea to "boost" your computer (and that f*cking android emulator)

 

[svenh]

Thanks for your replies! I will probably not switch to Linux, but installing an SSD might be an option.

 

[farsh08]

You can use GenyMotion to run various emulators fast. Configuration seems ok.

 

[svenh]

I'll check out GenyMotion - thanks for pointing that out!

 

[Inc Xoonity]

Agree, SSD will help a lot.

Try cordova for developpement on Android and iPhone.

 

[svenh]

I did not know about cordova. Is it already used for developing real, comersial programs, or is it just an experiment in its earlier stages?

 

[Rukbat]

Actually, an old Windows XP computer with about 25GB of free disk space is enough for Android development. Android development is a VERY light use of a computer. (A faster computer with a fast SSD drive will make the computer part of the job - compiling and such - go faster, but saving 3 minutes on a 2 week project isn't significant, and a 2 week project is a small app.)

 

[Inc Xoonity]

Svenh,

Cordova is now a mature solution. Wikipedia use cordova, Facebook use a forked version of Cordova, and many more.
I use cordova (Ok ... I am less known: )
This app use cordova RSS Reader Xoonity (do not hesitate to put stars and a glowing review, beginnings are difficult )

Advantage:
- Cross platform (Android, Iphone ... and more like windows, amazon-fireos, baclkberry)
- A unique code to maintain (in reality, there are always small adaptations)
- Easy to plug into a cloud API
- Fast developpement (not 2 weeks as we read sometimes, unless the app is very simple)

Disadvantage:
- Javascript, so slower than native code, but given that we call native code in a lot of cases, the difference may not be obvious.
- Before developing, we must ensure that we can meet any needs or plugins that can meet specific needs (or even make a java plugins)
- compatible with android 4.0+ (ideally 4.4 and higher)

Cordova alone, it is not great in fact. most of the people add the following solutions:
- angularjs
- Ionic (optional)
and other framework as required

You have a decent PC for developpement, if you want to try cordova on windows :
- Download Visual Studio Community (choose cordova project at launch, get a template with ionic)
- If you have windows PRO, you will get Visual Studio Android Emulator, Hyper-v solution. (get windows PRO if you don t have, this emulator will help a lot)

I have not seen your post before, I will follow this subject.

 

[Inc Xoonity]

if you need information about server side, we can talk about this.

 

[svenh]

Actually, an old Windows XP computer with about 25GB of free disk space is enough for Android development. Android development is a VERY light use of a computer. (A faster computer with a fast SSD drive will make the computer part of the job - compiling and such - go faster, but saving 3 minutes on a 2 week project isn't significant, and a 2 week project is a small app.)

Great to hear Rukbat. I will at least start with what I have today and hopefully that will be OK. I guess it will take some time until I know. Learning Android programming on my spare time while having a full time job and a family with children, I feel like it can take a year of reading books before I actually start creating my own apps...

Thanks for your reply!

 

[CrystarGames]

deleted

 

[svenh]

Thanks Xoonity for taking the time to explain! I will probably follow the traditional Android app development path first, but I sure will keep this alternative in mind.

 

[gob0]

Hi folks,

Svenh,
Cordova alone, it is not great in fact. most of the people add the following solutions:
- angularjs
- Ionic (optional)
and other framework as required

The goal of Cordova is to bundle javascript into native app. So it only make this, an it make it nicely.
You can use vanilla JS but you'll have to reinvent a lot of things, so adding javascript & CSS frameworks allow you to build a complete app quickly.
It's the same point with Java: do you use vanilla java or do you add Spring, Hibernate or whatever framework?

In my app, i use Angular with Bootstrap/CSS. In games, i add Phaser.io

 

[Inc Xoonity]

Hi,

Completely agree, Cordova did very well job.

I have a lot of work right now, but I will test Phaser, although I have no experience in the development of video games. Is it easy to learn ? if we already know JavaScript and other languages

 

[gob0]

If you know JavaScript, learning Phaser is not too hard (documentation is good and examples cover a large part of Phaser objects).

There's also a forum: Phaser - HTML5 Game Devs Forum

 

[Inc Xoonity]

Thank you for the information