The Google Android Basics Nanodegree class is available on the online learning platform Udacity, which is designed to teach those who have little or no programming experience all the basics needed to create their own Android app. “Google, in partnership with Udacity, is making Android development accessible and understandable to everyone, so that regardless of your background, you can learn to build apps that improve the lives of people around you,” Shanea King-Roberson, program manager at Google, said in a blog post. The courses that make up the Nanodegree are all available online for free besides Udacity’s paid services including project guidance, coaches, help for staying on track, career counselling, and a certificate upon completion. “With courses designed by Google, you can learn skills that are applicable to building apps that solve real world problems. You can learn at your own pace to use Android Studio (Google’s official tool for Android app development) to design app user interfaces and implement user interactions using the Java programming language. The courses walk you through step-by-step on how to build an order form for a coffee shop, an app to track pets in a shelter, an app that teaches vocabulary words from the Native American Miwok tribe, and an app on recent earthquakes in the world. At the end of the course, you will have an entire portfolio of apps to share with your friends and family.” The new series of courses teaches how to build simple Android apps. Specifically, it covers layouts, interactivity, multi-screen apps, object-oriented programming basics, connecting to the Internet and data storage, among other topics. The course requires 165 hours, or about 4 hours a day for 42 days, to be completed. Once a user completes the ‘basics” course, they will be able to continue learning more about app development through the Career-track Android Nanodegree. The first 50 users to complete the Basics course will be awarded full scholarship for the Career-Track Android Developer Nanodegree. What is interesting about this course is that those who are interested in designing an app or developing for Android not only learn how to get started and gain knowledge but also learn the skills to earn money out of it. This course from Udacity will also give users the capability to plan a project and accomplish it as well. Also read: Become an Android Developer : Here is how you can create your first Android App
