General Discussion

[mgolokhov]

Whoa I forgot about the modern art thing. I've been locked down finishing the final labs for all 3 Android >courses. I'm also taking other java courses and I'm in "real" school for software dev right now. I will get >back on dodroid after the weekend when all these classes end Sunday night

Wow, tell us your secret how do you manage to do all.

Holy crap! You spend so much time programming you might as well have your computer implanted. :-D

No worries. I think we all have deadlines coming up. If I knock this Modern Art thing out tonight I think I'm going to look more at Android's Material Design guidelines. Following latest Android guidelines will give it the professional appearance I think we all want it to have.

Good luck with all of your assignments! TTYL

Yeah, tough weekend.

[JaeW]

Hey Maxim - you've done a lot of work. Nice job!

[mgolokhov]

Little steps forward :) A bit stuck with default constructor for fragments, do we really need one? Java automatically adds one if we do not create another constructor with one or more arguments. But found in blog about DialogFragments... WAT?

[JaeW]

The Big Nerd Ranch book I've been working through (and does use the support library) never includes a constructor. The limited work I've done on fragments I have not included a constructor and have never had a problem. But was that what your "WAT?" was referring to?

[JaeW]

I'm going to be out for a while. Thanksgiving (huge American holiday) is November 26 and I will be in a pretty remote area for the better part of a week. Will try to get the ViewPager done before I leave.

[mgolokhov]

If you create Fragment constructor with arguments you should implement default constructor as well (or app can crash during configuration change). In the blog they insist to use default ctor... wat

[JaeW]

Hey Maxim! Did we lose Joe? I've been in Georgia (the state, not the country) and need to get caught up on the class. Will be back contributing soon.

[JayBrizle]

I'm still here. Just been trying to get caught up on things. I some how actually completed all 3 Android courses with the verified certificates along with a couple others and just started android course 4 (along with others). I'm going to get caught up on the code base here again soon, I see Maxim has been busy.

[JaeW]

Holy crap! When do you sleep? Yes, it looks as though Maxim has been very busy.

[JaeW]

Oh, and CONGRATS! on that accomplishment!

[mgolokhov]

Yo-man, you are real heavy-hitter! As for me, I do hardware projects for living. Also multithreading is a very tricky topic, so I build the app to debug some dark corners.

[JayBrizle]

Hardware like electrical engineering kind of stuff? Embedded systems? I love that stuff but can't find time to really get into much cause I know I won't pay my bills with that, just for a hobby. I have a big Arduino board collecting dust now :/ one day though. There's is a class on edx.org for embedded systems starting next month I hope to finish(only made it half way last time). Make my android phone talk to devices around my house. Turn on the coffee maker from my phone before I get out of bed lol

[mgolokhov]

FPGA design. Low level algorithms where nanoseconds matter (like hdmi converter\switcher with low latency).

[JayBrizle]

Oh ok. So your like a ninja lol. That's pretty cool stuff man

[JaeW]

Funny. I used to work at STMicroelectronics in a department of about 100 engineers who worked on embedded systems (EEPROMs, etc.). They were absolutely the smartest (brilliant, actually) nicest and most down-to-earth guys I've ever met. Those characteristics must run in the field. :-)

So Joe, two years back I started a non-profit to promote programming in youth in under-represented populations. We work with Arduinos and RaspberryPi a lot, and the kids LOVE them. One of the organizations I work super closely with is Youth Exploring Science. Like I've said before, I'm nowhere near either of your programming abilities, but what's cool is that when you are working with kids it gives you a good reason to learn something you wouldn't normally give a priority to. I know you don't have time right now, but when you're done with 'real school' (your words), maybe consider working with a youth group in your area when you're ready to dig into the Arduino? Sorry if that's a shameless plug, but these kids are AMAZING! And having the interest of an adult who can teach and learn and explore this stuff with them? Truly priceless.

[JayBrizle]

Helllll yeah. I would love to do something like that then. I have conciously thought of how I would like to "do good" with the technical ability I will gain going forward. I joined a meetup recently called Code for Philly that's based on so called civic hacking. In a few months after winter I'm looking forward to actually going to some meetings and getting involved (and networking, I want a dev job as soon as my skill level warrants a paycheck). I just want to get a little further along in the 2 web dev specializations I'm in so I can contribute more once I'm there. So yeah I would definitely be interested then in the not too distant future.

[JaeW]

I totally get the paycheck thing. My non-profit has been TRULY non-profit. I'm fortunate in the fact that LaunchCode is based here in St. Louis. They're actually one of the reasons I started by non-profit. St. Louis is becoming a nationally recognized (up and coming) technology start-up hub. But those opportunities have to be for everyone - LaunchCode makes that possible in that if you have a reasonable programming ability, they will find you an apprenticeship. They currently have over 3,000 positions which they cannot fill - again, this is for apprentices, not experienced programmers. For all of the bad things you've probably heard about St. Louis, the start-up community is amazing, and they are definitely giving back.

One of the problems with getting coding to under-served schools is that there is a desperate shortage of computer science teachers. If the average Java programmer (here in STL, for example) makes $80K/year why would they teach? Those that will teach want higher paychecks - and the affluent districts can offer them that. There is a national program, though, that will pair a technology professional with a teacher who wants to teach coding as a mentor-type relationship. If I remember correctly the tech professional spends some time in the classroom, but it can be via Skype, too. I can't think of the program name just at the moment, but it will come to me. Many, many companies are embracing employee volunteerism and often will pay employees for the time they spend volunteering.

[JayBrizle]

That's pretty awesome. I have considered years down the line, if I'm alive, to go into teaching possibly. I was an education major some years back for a couple semesters. I understand the lack of teachers too. I was highly frustrated in my computer science 1 course a couple years ago at how awful my professor was at explaining things. Experienced programmer, awful teacher. He got into teaching when the recession hit around 2008 I heard him say, so it really wasnt his thing. I had already understood half of the stuff before the class so it was easy for me to bang it all out luckily. The 3 people who sat at the computers near me in class just stopped raising their hands for help and would just pull me in to break it down for them. That is great what your trying to do Janice, thumbs up

[JaeW]

Isn't that awful how a teacher can either ignite a real passion for something or make you hate it? Fortunately I had a good programming teacher in high school, but my math teachers were terrible. It wasn't until I had an outstanding Calculus teacher that I really fell in love with it. It's just such a shame that finding the beauty and joy in these 'difficult' subject is such a hit-or-miss thing. What I love about the teens I work with at the YES program is that THEY are the ones who teach over the summer, and they go out into the community to spread the word that tech is AWESOME!

I'm not doing anything special. I'm just doing something (because I have the time and resources). I get tired of people saying, "Somebody should do something." Well, aren't they somebody? Can you imagine what would happen if even 50% of people did just a little bit? That's what I try to emphasize.

If you get a chance, take a look at this TED talk by Mitch Resnick. This is what got me initially fired up and gave me the inspiration Pretty cool what they're doing up at MIT

[JaeW]

I LOVE the Hack for Philly group. I was mesmerized with Jennifer Pahlka (founder of Code for America) when I saw her TED video (yes, I'm a TED junkie). I know Code for America is coming to help STL government. I wonder if they bring the volunteer gig along with them?

[JayBrizle]

Yeah code for Philly seems pretty cool. Very open like. I've only ever watched 1 TED I think. Was a woman talking about "creating bad ass developers", unless that wasn't a TED talk im thinking of lol

[JaeW]

I watch TED when I exercise (yes, indoors). The TED App is really great - there's a way to specify how much time you have, what category you want to watch and it automatically creates a playlist for you. What I love about TED is how much I learn about really groundbreaking things outside of my typical fields of interest. I like that there are really high-profiled people who tell amazing stories, but there are also completely 'normal' people who have overcome unimaginable things or done amazing things by starting with a small idea (kind of like what Maxim has started here) that grew. It reminds me what an amazing species we can be when we believe in what is possible and then put that belief into action.

[mgolokhov]

Janice, thumbs up!

I'm nowhere near either of your programming abilities

It's not true, just a matter of interest and time (and a little kick at start=)) My first introduction to programming was at university (nonspecialized, supplementary subject)... no luck with teacher... didn't get it. So I started with bits and bytes, chip design. Time passed by and growth of online courses and tendency to share information... and man like Mehran Sahami fires you up. "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." I see you are also a person with passion and your students are lucky. It's really cool!

[JaeW]

Apologies for that dump (which I deleted). Let me put it a different way. I really want to excel at coding, but I have a LOT on my plate. I'll do what I am able to contribute, but it may not be a huge amount (which I'm okay with). Cool?

[mgolokhov]

You already know the answer =) You are certainly more experienced socially, so can (and you do) consult us about user expectations. In the bright future we can adapt the quiz engine for your classes.

[mgolokhov]

And I like the idea of cheerleader and devil's advocate =)

[JaeW]

You are a kind and gracious man Maxim. Thank you.

[JaeW]

Hey Maxim, where's the correct place to put questions about the DoDroid code? Feel free to move this question.

I'm wondering why, in the MainActivity you chose to use the android.app.Activity and android.app.Fragment libraries instead of using the android.support.v4.app.Fragment and android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity libraries. I understand that Fragments were introduced in API 11 (so that covers a lot of androids) but the Support Library will make the app backward compatible from API 4 and up, yes? Is there a reason not to support backward compatibility? Just curious.

[JaeW]

BTW, I'm not sure I'm more experienced socially. I actually consider myself socially awkward. The only thing that saves me and opens doors is that I'm kind of like Elf - you know, Elf the Christmas movie? I walk around in wonder at pretty much everything and I ask a million questions. But you knew that already . . .

[AlucardxTepes]

hey guys. Judging from the 20+ emails ive received over the weekend, it seems this is quite an active project :)

I'm Nelson, saw the link posted on one of the android coursera courses and thought I could maybe help coding here. I'm fairly new to git and github though. I'm trying to improve my android skills but I'm not sure how to proceed here.

[JaeW]

Hey Nelson. Welcome! Maxim is our grand leader and all-around code wizard so I will probably leave the 'where to start?' in terms of coding question to him.

We can always use more people creating questions for the DB, though. You can find the question submission form here. There can be multiple right or wrong answers, and you separate those with a regular line return (Enter key).

In terms of GitHub, I'm stumbling around in it myself, but I can recommend some videos I've found helpful. Have you downloaded Git to your computer yet?

[JaeW]

Also, re: learning GitHub, I noticed last night that GitHub is offering free, self-paced training here in exchange for feedback. I signed up (squeamishly, though, as they want access to your GitHub personal info), but I have not started it yet.

[AlucardxTepes]

Thanks for the welcome and info. I have indeed installed git already, in fact, I've done some commits and shares to my own github page directly from the android studio IDE. But not much more than that.

[JaeW]

Cool, cool. No worries.

Have you forked the DoDroid project over to your own repository? If not, I'd do that first by going to the first page of Maxim's DoDroid repository. At the upper right-hand side you'll see a Fork button - click it and then you will have your own copy of the DoDroid repository in which you can work without affecting Maxim's.

Are you using Android Studio or Eclipse? If using Android Studio, this is a good video as to how to pull a project from GitHub into Android Studio. After that you can load, run and mess around with the code.

You can find the Issues Page (what features need to be added, what is being worked on or needs to be worked on here.

I'll recommend a few more videos in a minute about syncing the repositories in a minute, but I think these will get you started? Let me know if you have any questions or problems with the above.

[AlucardxTepes]

dude you're awesome, I appreciate the help, thanks. I will do that when I get a chance and will report back. I'm currently going over some lecture videos cuz I'm taking another specialization called 'object oriented programming with java' or so.

[JaeW]

You're very welcome, but actually, I'm a chica, not dude. :-D

Also, there is a FANTASTIC

[JaeW]

Oh crap. Hit Commit by accident.

[JaeW]

There is a FANTASTIC Object Oriented Java MOOC out of the University of Finland. What I LOVED about it is that it gives you more coding practice than you could imagine. Both short little assignments to get used to a new concept and then BIG projects which make you really work (like you have to create an entire shopping cart). Best MOOC I've ever taken. You can find it here.

[AlucardxTepes]

oh sorry, I just assume everybody on the internet is a male unless otherwise stated lol.

There is a FANTASTIC .... what ? that sounded like the beginning of a great story!

[JaeW]

LOL. Since 80% of coders are guys the odds are in your favor. ;-)

"FANTASTIC" . . . . maybe only a great story for a super geek?

[JayBrizle]

Welcome to the project crazy name dude that I can't pronounce lol

[AlucardxTepes]

thanks JayBrizle, you can call me either Alucard or Nelson, lol

[JaeW]

Last video: <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zvHQXnBO6c&list=LLICimchTa6u7kpCfj27a3lw&index=1">Syncing your repository with Maxim's.

[JaeW]

Ha! Joe, so true. BTW, I'm Janice. JayBrizle is Joe.

[mgolokhov]

Welcome to the project =) There are 11 small articles about git and github

JaeW > Is there a reason not to support backward compatibility?

It depends on your minSdkVersion and features you are using(e.g. nested fragments were introduced in API17).

[JaeW]

So DoDroid's minSDKVersion is 15 . . . . . according to the Manifest.

[mgolokhov]

Yeah, but some features were introduced in higher API versions (like nested fragments)

[JaeW]

Right. So why wouldn't you use the support library?

[mgolokhov]

Ah, in the latest source code you can find import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;

[mgolokhov]

we use

• android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity for a toolbar
• android.support.v4 for a ViewPager