New Course: Android App Development with Java

CBT Nuggets trainer Ben Finkel recently completed his Android App Development with Java course, giving you the skills and knowledge you need to apply Java to app development successfully. Bens's new course picks up where his Java Essentials course left off, helping you to advance your skill set.

In this 14-video course, Ben guides you through building a functional Android app using Java, one of the most prevalent programming languages available. Java is nearly omnipresent across the industry, making it incredibly stable and scalable. So, Ben created a course to help you apply your Java skills in the real world, setting you up with skills to hone your programming and Java skills while developing an app to boost your resume.

We asked Ben about his new course and what you can expect during your CBT Nuggets Learning Experience.

Q: Why should companies train their IT professionals in Android App Development with Java? What value do the skills you teach in your new course bring to an organization and the IT pro?

I can think of 2 billion reasons to train your professionals in Android App development. There are roughly 2 billion Android-powered devices today, more than any other single operating system. Android is found on phones, tablets, phablets, HVAC systems, cars, and refrigerators. Regardless of your industry, it would help if you focused on ensuring you met any demand from customers using Android devices.

Q: From a learner perspective, what did you consider when creating this course?

I had two critical ideas about the learners when creating this course. 1) I assumed that the learner had never written a single Android app before, and this was their very first exposure to the development tools and methodology. 2) I made sure to leverage and reinforce the concepts taught in my Java Essentials course, applying those concepts in a real-world usage scenario.

Q: Any out-of-the-box tips for learners to get the most out of your course?

The same as always: Practice hands-on. Either in your own development environment or in our awesome Virtual Lab environment, make sure you are pressing keys and not just passively watching the videos.

Q: How does this real-world training connect to certifications our learners might be pursuing?

Android App development is an efficient use-case scenario for the Java programming language. Any learners interested in expanding their programming knowledge with Java or pursuing Oracle's Java Essentials certification would do well to follow this course and try their hand at writing a functioning Java app.

Q: What was your favorite Nugget to create in this course?

In the final Nugget (Android Notifications), we tie together many disparate pieces of the Android platform to schedule notifications for future dates that will pop up on the user's device. It was a blast to lay out and organize this functionality into something efficient and valuable.

Q: What's the most important thing you hope learners take away from this course?

You can easily get up and running creating an Android app, but the complexity of the Android platform also comes into play. Android is a powerful system, and consequently, there is a lot to learn about its features and libraries.

Q: What course(s) or certification(s) should learners complete before diving into your Android App Development with Java course?

Learners must be familiar with the features and concepts in our Java Essentials course here at CBT Nuggets. This course reinforces many of those ideas through practical application, but it assumes that this is not the first time the learner has seen them.

Q: What course(s) or certification(s) should learners jump into after completing your Android App Development with Java course?

Our CPD200: Developing Solutions for Google Cloud Platform course is another real-world application of Java programming skills, this time on a web-based cloud platform. Learners may also be interested in moving on to Python programming or one of the DevOps courses, such as Docker, Chef Fundamentals, or Puppet Fundamentals.

Q: Some of our learners find it challenging to sustain their training momentum. What advice would you offer learners who hit that particular obstacle? How can they keep their motivation to train?

Structure. Find and establish the schedule and training structure that works for you. Whether that's 20 minutes every morning before work, an hour three nights a week after dinner, or whatever else works for you, make sure you have one. It should be easy to just "fall into" training when the time comes; having a space in your life carved out for it is an important step.

Q: Some argue that Java is omnipresent as a programming language, which makes it stable and scalable. If that's true, we could extrapolate that due to its omnipresence, Java is god, not THE God, but A god. What kind of sacrifice would the Java god expect from its followers?

Followers of Java are required to adhere strictly to the tenets and philosophies of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). Our Lord Java does not tolerate any of its flock straying from the path of OOP, as you might find in the heathen religions of Python or C++, whose members praise the Path of OOP while partaking of the sin of functional programming, or even worse: scripting.

Java would not care what animal was sacrificed if a factory class produced the sacrificial chamber with properly encapsulated code. Java would not dictate the altar upon which to make the sacrifice, as Java is platform-independent. The weapon would not matter if it derived from an appropriately abstracted weapon class and implemented the necessary interface to perform the sacrifice. And, of course, Java would not care if you cleaned up the mess when you were done because Java has great automatic garbage collection.

Take your programming skills to the next level with Ben Finkel's Android App Development with Java today!

Learn more about the CBT Nuggets Learning Experience.