An Easier Way To Make Android Apps
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With so many apps available out there for smart-phones, you’d think it would be easy to make one for yourself. Typically you need some sort of programming experience, but Google just came out with the App Inventor for Android, a new tool that lets you (programmer or not) create your own app and be the developer. Instead of writing code as a programmer would, you visually design the way your app looks and use blocks to specify your app’s behavior.
For the past year Google has been testing App Inventor in classrooms around the country and found that this opens up the world of computer programming to students in new, powerful ways. “Students traditionally intimidated by technology are motivated and excited to program with App Inventor,” says David Wolber, professor of computer science at the University of San Francisco, who worked on the program.
One student from Professor Wolber’s class told Google, “I used to think that no one could program except CS (computer science) people. Now I’ve made dozens of applications for the Android phone!” Another student, who struggles with dyslexia, was inspired by App Inventor to take more computer science classes and is now learning Python, a computer programming language.
App Inventor allows you to create just about any app you can think of, from simple games to apps that inform/educate (i.e. utilize Android’s text-to-speech capability to ask questions aloud for study session). You can also use the GPS-location sensor to build apps that know where you are, remember where you parked your car or give you a tour of your school, workplace or favorite landmark. As a teacher, this is a great tool to make a quiz builder to save questions for your students to answer.
I can see great potential with this, especially in schools. Perhaps this will help the Android Store to grow bigger faster!
Visit https://services.google.com/fb/forms/appinventorinterest to request an invitation to obtain the App Inventor for Android.
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