App Inventor vs Android SDK

Question

I signed up for a mobile app course and am considering deleting it because we use Google App Inventor to create apps.

I watched a few videos, and it seems to be too simple, focused on non-programmers. I had some experience with the Android SDK, and I feel that learning App Inventor is humiliating, just for fun a way to make only simple applications. This is true? Are you more limited in App Inventor than programming in Eclipse with Java? The graphical way of “programming” makes it seem like this. Can anyone with experience comment on this?

thanks.

Answer 1

Although graphical programming never gives such control as coding, it does not necessarily make it bad. It really depends on what kind of control you need and what you need to do with it. If you are building a simple local application with a good user interface, it will probably be easier to use App Inventor. Even in the SDK, you will work with graphical user interface development tools. Of course, you can do simple XML, but it's always nice to have WYSIWYG to develop these things.

Having said that personally, I would try to learn the SDK just because it gives you a complete set of tools. It will also teach you how to develop Android apps more closely. In addition, if you want to become a true Android application developer in the future, this will give you more head base and knowledge base.

Answer 2

With the knowledge on my appinventor, I feel the same way. Another thing to note is that google has been dropping the inventor of applications since January 2012. If you have some knowledge, I would suggest using Android sdk and eclipse.

Answer 3

It's right. I would definitely suggest jumping right into the framework using the SDK instead of using App Inventor. It is very simplified and based on templates with little implementation flexibility. Going straight to Android is better IMO, you get more flexibility regarding the look and feel of the software elements of your applications.

Answer 4

App Inventor was designed for people who are not familiar with traditional programming languages. It sounds like you are doing it. If you want to learn App Inventor, you can easily do it yourself. It would be a waste of time to take on the class.

To answer another part of your question, yes, what you can do in App Inventor is much more limited than what you can do with the full Android Java SDK.

Since App Inventor will be open source soon, you can combine the two, if you want, using the Java SDK to extend the App Inventor.

The new MIT Mobile Learning Center contains information on launching or using their own App Inventor server. As other respondents noted, Google is about to pull the plug into its App Inventor service.

Answer 5

Graphical programming can be useful for some simple tasks, such as creating several actions for moving around; that would be perfectly acceptable. However, all the problems you had to dynamically create objects or create a game would exceed the difficulties of exploring your path around the Java and Android SDK. Which one you choose completely depends on the type of project you want to do. App Inventor can either hinder you or speed up your development. Another thing to keep in mind is that Google is no longer supporting Google Labs and App Inventor, which may interfere with some people.