“Nothing makes an android feel more useless than when a human is crying.”
― Marissa Meyer, Glitches
Creativity is a beautiful force that breaks barriers in our pursuit of achieving excellence in the work we undertake. And there are multitudes of forms of creativities that exist in our world: music, painting, acting, design, performance, movie, writing, and math. But I also do believe creativity exists in the tech world.
Ever since I started programming Android apps with Java, Android became my playground where I can unleash my technological creativity without any limitations. Just like drawing and painting a landscape on a canvas, I program Java and SQL codes that merge themselves into magical chemistry to calculate fascinating data from its database. Even though this has nothing to do with painting or any other type of art that requires you to have creativity, my interaction with a machine could also be considered a form of art. When I finish writing a code that not only logically make sense but also worked as I expected, that satisfaction I felt was priceless.
What is amazing about Android app development is that you really don’t have to install its programming languages by yourself. All you have to do is to install Android Studio from its official website, and then you can literally start coding. Java and Kotlin, the two of the most used coding languages for the OS’s app development, come with the IDE. Unlike iOS app development which requires you have an expensive MacBook, you can learn Android programming not only on Windows but also on macOS, Linux, and even ChromeOS.
In spite of the fact that Java has now been treated like a second citizen in the Android app development world all thanks to Kotlin’s rise, there always is a significant reason to program an app with the versatile language. Since Java is an essential machine language that is being used in multiple sectors of our world, being familiar with its syntax and the language itself will skyrocket your opportunities in your tech career. And with this regard, Android app development with Java could be one of your choices to interact with the language.
My relationship with Android was forever changed ever since I started my programming career back in 2019. All thanks to the crucial opportunity that I was given to be a Java developer, the language paved my way to the endless journey in the tech world. And my already strong relationship with Android even became stronger than ever before when I started coding my original Android apps by taking advantage of my Java coding skills. It has been an experimental process and much has been learned through all of that technological implementation so far. And it is the essential concept of science, isn’t it?
Every time I finish completing a programming challenge that I encountered in the process of Android app dev, that satisfaction always paved my way to wanting to challenge another more complicated programming that might be useful for power users. Just like the Sagrada Familia that doesn’t know its construction end, this is, as I wrote earlier, very much like an endless journey to discover my authentic tech creativity. Android programming, therefore, is also a process of learning about my capabilities by challenging all sorts of programming puzzles that fold themselves into magical chemistry that can be achieved only by myself.
When it comes to power users, it always has been an exciting process to program codes that could satisfy them. As for my own project, I’ve been working on a budget spending tracker that enables users to track not only their expense transactions but also manage their bank balances and incomes. Since money and numbers are essential parts of this app, not only are complicated calculations done by SQL codes enough but also access to lots of useful external data through API accesses.
The more I code, the more I feel I need to improve the user experience. And this complicated process of coding has become even more complicated all because I’m bilingual. Since I’m bilingual, Japanese, and English, my transactions are also bi-currency: mostly JPY and USD. So, when I think about those who are considered power users who interact with multiple currencies just like myself, I want the app to cover as many major currencies as possible to satisfy their needs. And as you may guess, more currencies require an even more complicated coding structure to enable such sophisticated calculations that interact with multiple metrics of currencies.
Eventually, through the process of all of those crucial steps to achieve my goals, not only could I make my app stand in the crowd and may attract my future employers, but also I could improve my coding skills and computing knowledge in general.
It has already been halfway through the year since I started my own Android project, and I still can’t see its end in sight for now, but what I’m sure of is that at least it is heading toward its completion step by step. Hope I can release it to the Google Play Store in a couple of months.
All in all, it has been quite a journey, but I’ve been enjoying it so far. And Android enabled me to unleash my technological creativity just like a painter paint a landscape on a canvas. My relationship with Android has become even stronger through my coding experiences and challenges. This is a journey not only to complete my portfolio to pave my future career but also is a journey to learn how far I could go with my tech skills.
Be creative. Be cool. Be nice.
Let us begin…
