During the weekend I wrote my first little android application (Leander, a frontend for dict.leo.org). I did it mainly to earn myself an Archos 5, but beyond that I was also just curious. This was the first time I wrote something for a different platform than general purpose PC/workstation/server, it was the first time I really used Eclipse and it was the first time in at least ten years that I used Java again.
As is to be expected from a resource-limited device the SDK feels a bit constrained and decidedly non-fancy. On the other hand that makes it relatively clear and easy to pick up.
I did not like Java when I first had to use it in a graphics programming course back in the nineties and I still do not really care for it. Its verbosity and redundancy annoy me. I think Java just feels overwhelmingly pedestrian.
All the rough edges and annoyances the whole experience could have had however were muffled by Eclipses constant supervision. I do not know whether it is the progress of technology or the different attitude of the language but the last time I used an IDE (Visual C++ back in the nineties as well), I did not feel nearly as cared for as this time.
All this hand-holding makes development sort of a brainless activity - just follow the suggestions by the IDE, copy and paste a few things from the docs or online sources... done. Anyways it is fun and I am curious to see whether my app is actually going to be used by anyone ;-).
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