[SGVLUG] This is the droid you've been writing for...

[Tom Emerson]

Well, the holidays are over, lights taken down, and lives slowly
getting back to normal - time to start considering the next SGVLUG
meeting!

This month, Rae will give a tutorial on Android (phone) programming -
if you're frustrated about apps that "don't do quite what you want"
(or charge more than you think it is worth), here is a chance to learn
how to "roll your own" program and live the high life.

This may be a good topic to bring a laptop and "follow along" as he
talks about different techniques -- you will want to install the
"SDK", or "software development kit", beforehand so you can run the
examples yourself.  Rae and Matt just sent me instructions which I've
just posted on our site [you can also head on over to
http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing.html and follow through
the installation steps (and do the "hello world" application if you
can)]  Although Rae will talk about installing the android platform
SDK, he won't go into too much specific detail (otherwise we'll spend
the entire evening talking about installing the SDK and not actually
talking about programming!)

Note that if you run OpenSuSE like I do, there is an extra step you'll
need to perform to get the SDK to work - I don't remember the
specifics of it, but it is covered in the associated forum on the
developer.android site.  (basically, do a forum search for the error
message you get when trying to install the SDK - it complains of some
missing dependencies - and you should find the thread that specifies
how and where to get the "correct" package to provide those
dependencies)

Installing the SDK and doing the tutorial should not take more than a
couple hours - if you get stuck, first check the forums on the
developer site (chances are your problem has been covered before) or
post to this list (well, consider this the second line of defense -
the people who reply in the forums do this every day...)  If you're
really stuck, and the forum answers are not helping, be ready with
your question at the start of the meeting - Rae or I or someone may be
able to provide some insight right off, but we don't want to get
sidetracked into what may be a one-off problem.