Android App Inventor: Is it worth learning (yet)? [closed]
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5091598
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05-12-2019 - |
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I have read that it will allow creating an Android app without (much) programming skill.
I am a programmer and have already developed some apps for the Android. Is the App Inventor worth while for me to learn for one of
- Converting completed apps over to App Inventor
- Converting in progress apps over to App Inventor
- Starting new apps with App Inventor
And what are the general limitations?
Solution
From what I understand of the AppInventor platform you are not going to get far with your first two goals (converting completed apps and converting in progress apps).
It is definitely worthwile to start new apps. It does help in rapidly putting prototypes together. From what little I have used in the platform these are the biggest limitations.
Code is not portable. That is you are forced to use appInventor. You cannot export/import code to Java or out of the platform.
You are restricted to one screen per application. The workaround is to have each screen as a separate application or do some fancy layout tricks (hide/show elements).
You cannot upload applications developed in AppInventor to the App Marketplace.
All this being said it is still quite a powerful tool. The AppInventor forums are quite active and people have done some neat stuff with it.
My advice go ahead and give it a spin!
OTHER TIPS
the beauty of app inventor lies in the user friendly interface basically. you can make pretty decent applications with it in a very little amount of time.
blocks editor feature is very flexible and is the place where u program your application. instead of writing code you drop blocks (the logic is same).
learning part is not anywhere tedious. u'll get a feel of it in like 1-2 hours. rest is on your creativity.
the code portability is surely an issue, but i've read in forums that google will make it more flexible later on.
AppInventor is a pretty decent coding tool for Android. It's so simple to use, that you could easily learn it in the Background whilst concentrating most of your time on the more complex dev platforms. It might be that you just need something building quickly, in which case, AppInventor might be ideal.
