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Android

Posted by Gerald Darroles
Gerald Darroles
3,569 Points

Step by Step Language learning

Hello there Treehouse!

Just like every language, programming languages also follow their own syntax and grammar. I remember when I was learning Pascal years ago in High School our teacher will give us exercises that increases in difficulty everyday.

First we have a quiz like this, fill in the blanks

1) String _______ = "Treehouse"; 2)______ Name = 'Treehouse";

then after a few days, we will be asked to construct a full statement

1) String Name = "Treehouse";

then fill in a bank of a whole bunch of codes like this,

protected void onCreate(_____________) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); ___________(R.layout.activity_main_list);

then after a few weeks, they will ask us to create a complete bunch of codes

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main_list);

And we often repeat the same process for every method.

Mastering a language requires repetition, I know this kind of method is daunting for teachers, and we do have this in Treehouse but most of the time it is not enough.

if you can recommend a workbook I can use, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you Gerald

2 Answers

Joe Brown
Joe Brown
21,465 Points

You have the right idea with the piece by piece and repetition thing. Besides recommending a workbook I'll give a long suggestion that works great for me.. Do the project or assignment over again on your own. For example if your following the Blog Reader app here on Treehouse, when your finished try to make the app again on your own. Dont go jumping into the next project right away cause you feel like your making progress, or just cause you got the last one "to work". Yup do the same project again all by yourself, no help. It will show you exactly what you actually understand and dont. Then you use the code from the original project you did by following along to help you fill in what you didnt remember how to do. Then after all that try to do it again on your own, or if that gets boring try to do a variation of that app using the things you learned in that project. Whatever your learning, if its a "create a website" project or and android project, this practice will force you to really learn the material. It gets very easy to follow someone and type what they type and get it to work, its a whole other thing to began to be able to create cool things on your own with all the stuff you've learned. I think thats really all of our goal in the end #MakeCoolStuff lol

Gerald Darroles
Gerald Darroles
3,569 Points
Gerald Darroles
Gerald Darroles
3,569 Points

Thank you!! I will try this method and see if I can develop using such steps.