So you have Glass and you want to develop apps for it? You already have an IDE such as Eclipse or Android Studio to code your apps in, you know all about adb and Droid@Screen to view your Glass screen on your computer screen! Well you do have options, before jumping into your typical Hello World Glass app. As with other platforms like iOS, you have the option of native apps and web based services apps. This last option is basically an app that runs on a server(s) and interacts directly with your device (be it Glass or iDevice) by sending it information. Native – GDK – Apps These are… Read More
Continue ReadingHow to create an app – Not programmatically
A fellow coder asked: “How does one go about developing an app from scratch? Where does one start?” My response follows: Some will say its a matter of style and you have to find your own. And eventually you will, after a lot of copy-paste programming. I started in 2009 and my first app was a copy-paste of a few different projects. All the app did was connect to the Internet, download XML and parse it into a uilabel. Then I decided to look into more complex app samples. So I downloaded a few from Apple. In particular I remember iPhoneCoreDataRecipes. In hindsight, it was too complex for a beginner… Read More
Continue ReadingObjC Programming
The Big Picture ObjC is OOP which means objects send messages to other objects. Before getting into messages, let’s define objects. Objects. This is very diverse. An object can be a string, a number, a Boolean, an integer, an array, a dictionary or even one you create yourself. There are any types of objects but let’s start at the root object. The root object is called NSObject. You’ll see references to it in code but you’ll hardly ever use it directly. This is called the root object because it’s the starting point of any object. It’s like Adam and Eve rolled into one and ANY other kind of object in… Read More
Continue ReadingStatic Libraries in iOS – Video Tutorial
Libraries is another one of those rather obscure topics for newbie programmers, kinda like Blocks and Delegates/Protocols. Think of libraries as just that, a resource you can use which doesn’t belong to you. A loaner 🙂 NOTE: If you need a nice tutorial on Blocks or Delegates, check out: Video Tutorial: Objective-C Blocks Video Tutorial: Objective-C Protocols and Delegates Ok back to our tutorial! Well a library is a piece of code that you can use (by importing it into your projects) but its not yours, so you can’t really do what you want to that piece of code, except use its functionality. In this tutorial we will create our… Read More
Continue ReadingCommand line prompts
ls ping netstat open locate sqlite sudo nano /etc/apache2/httpd.conf Computers are amazing! We all love telling them what to do. It’s like having you’re own personal assistant. And while adding calendar appointments, editing presentations and browsing web pages is very sophisticated nowadays, command prompt shells are so much more appealing, to me anyway. I remember the first time I used a command prompt was in my uncle’s Apple IIe back in San Francisco. Who didn’t love making printout loops using * to draw shapes and spell words…or since we are geeks, draw a big heart on the screen. I also remember computer class back at school at EIS. The 10… Read More
Continue ReadingFirst Android App – Part 5
My First Android App Android is based on Java much like iOS is based on ObjectiveC. If you are coming from an iOS background, itll be a bit jarring at first. Even though ObjC “comes from” C, C formats are a bit different. So I thought Id start with that first. ObjC: [myObject methodForDoingThis:someParameter]; is a method call which refers to this declared method: -(void)methodForDoingThis: (id)someParameter{ //1. Take the passed in parameter //2. Do something to with that parameter value //3. Call some other method… //4. Or if this were a method that returned an object instead of void //4. Return a new object value } C: myObject.methodForDoingThis(someParameter); is… Read More
Continue ReadingGoogle Glass – Part 2 – Pros & Cons
In the first review I covered basically what Glass is and what its not, what it can & can’t do. Now on to usability! PROS (IMHO) The biggest advantage in my opinion, is being able to interact with information without having to look down like a zombie. Or more importantly, not just the fact that we all look like zombies throughout the day, constantly checking our phones. Because of course some will argue we are “Glassholes” or look like morons wearing these glasses. But if you’re a true techie, you don’t care how something looks, you care about what it can do. Its very comfortable to be able to get… Read More
Continue ReadingOAuth & PKI for Dummies
I’ve been programming for a few years and I’ve heard of PKI and OAuth for a while. I’ve read about it in SSL certificates for servers and even installed certificates. I’ve signed many apps with certificates and I’ve granted access to many others for Facebook or Twitter interaction. I’ve looked around for definitions or explanations lately and came up empty handed. So I’ve put together this article to not only explain it but to try and make sure I DO understand as much as I think I do and point out the parts I DONT! What OAuth is and what isn’t! It’s not a login replacement. Logging into apps is… Read More
Continue ReadingGoogle Glass & Android Series for Developers & Users
So I’ve gotten a little carried away with the Glass-Android thing. My posts are as disorganized as my thoughts, so I thought I’d organize my posts a bit. Here is the set of posts for Android & Glass Development as of Feb 15th, 2014: Google Glass Review – Part 1 – 什么 (shen me = what = what Glass is & isn’t) Google Glass Review – Part 2 – Pros & Cons Develop apps for Google Glass – Part 3 – Setting up! Glass Development Mirror API – Part 4 – Where to start after setting up First Android App – Part 5 First Android App – Part 6 First Google… Read More
Continue ReadingGoogle Glass Review – Part 1－ 什么
I got my Glass a little late…but here is my review! What they are? You might think the answer is obvious, but its not. Its a wearable computer but its not a full blown computer. Does that make it less of a computer? Not really, unless you consider ipads and iphones less than a computer because you can’t do ALL the things you can normally do on a full blown laptop. What can you do with them? Since we already mentioned you can’t do everything you can on a full blown computer, let’s talk about what we CAN DO! Out of the box, Glass comes with a few commands such… Read More
Continue ReadingDevelop apps for Google Glass – Part 3 – Setting up!
If you have experience in Android (Java) development, this will be even easier. What you’ll need: Google Glass – to test your apps on Eclipse or Android Studio for coding Android SDK 15 & Glass Development Kit Sneak Peek (GDK) Configure adb Glass Well you either borrow a pair or get your own, but you will need Google Glass to test your apps. The reason being that there is no Glass emulator as there is for Android as of yet. Eclipse or Android Studio Eclipse is the most widely known IDE for Android programming but its worth getting to know Android Studio, the new IDE for developing on Android &… Read More
Continue ReadingBlocks & Completion Handlers
Think of blocks as c functions: (return type)functionName(input1, input2) { input1 + input2 } and you call it like this: return type = functionName (1,2) Blocks are similar: NSInteger (^mathOperation)(NSInteger x, NSInteger y) = ^NSInteger(NSInteger x,NSInteger y){ return x + y; }; You call it like this: NSInteger sum = mathOperation(1,2); Now imagine how cool it is to, instead of just passing a value to a method (like saying: here is a value, evaluate it), you can pass a whole method to it (like saying: here is something else to do!). Or better yet, here do this but only when you finish doing that! Like, load the users posts or tweets after you finish authenticating him!… Read More
Continue Reading