Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
Nathan Holland
983 PointsI currently don't have a computer and am using an iPad. What do you recommend for writing and following along for coding
Please advise
Tyler Combs
15,525 PointsThis may not be what you want to hear, but if you're serious about doing some Android development, you should really just try to get a laptop. I'll paste in the requirements here.
Windows
Microsoft® Windows® 7/8/10 (32- or 64-bit)
3 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB RAM recommended; plus 1 GB for the Android Emulator
2 GB of available disk space minimum,
4 GB Recommended (500 MB for IDE + 1.5 GB for Android SDK and emulator system image)
1280 x 800 minimum screen resolution
For accelerated emulator: 64-bit operating system and Intel® processor with support for Intel® VT-x, Intel® EM64T (Intel® 64), and Execute Disable (XD) Bit functionality
Mac
Mac® OS X® 10.10 (Yosemite) or higher, up to 10.12 (macOS Sierra)
3 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB RAM recommended; plus 1 GB for the Android Emulator
2 GB of available disk space minimum,
4 GB Recommended (500 MB for IDE + 1.5 GB for Android SDK and emulator system image)
1280 x 800 minimum screen resolution
You can get a Windows laptop capable of running Android Studio for $200-$300 USD. As for a MacBook... I'm sorry, I can't recommend a Mac just for Android development. You can spend $200-$300 to be able to develop apps on a Windows-based laptop, or over $1000 for a Mac with similar specs. But that's not to say one is better than the other, it's a matter of preference and what you'll be doing for the most part as a whole.
2 Answers
Kundai Musarurwa
10,842 PointsGoogle some apps you can use like mobile roadie and several others that are now out there. Good luck
Taylor Bryant
7,395 PointsSololearn has apps that teach you code and include code playgrounds, however there is a memory cap for each program and you will not be able to use any libraries outside of the basic ones for each language (which would be java for you). You can look for a website ide like Seb Dan mentioned. I know that tutorialspoint.com has a code playground for several different languages. But if you really want to take your learning to the next level and work on projects of your own I would highly recommend a computer. A computer will allow you to download whichever ide you prefer for any language, I use android studio for android. It will also allow you to import online open source libraries through the use of gradle, which is used within the android course to use libraries such as butterknife and okhttp (which online is highly recommended over androids standard http api) which will make your project more powerful quicker. Saving the applications into a custom file structure as well is a huge plus, iPads dont really have any sort of file manager as they sandbox every app. Lastly, on a computer you get to use the power of keyboard shortcuts which speed up your coding and make you more efficient, I would recommend downloading android studio as the course teaches you a few shortcuts and the ide itself also has a tip that pops up everytime you open it which is very cool.
Seb Dan
269 PointsSeb Dan
269 PointsIt is going to be hard to code for android without a computer as the android sdk is not available on ios. To practice java skills, you can use a web-based Java IDE. I think that appinventor from MIT can be used to make basic applications but it is not a very complete suite for full-on development.