Is C++ a good start for an Android APP?

[ynotmi]

I am trying to write a simple APP & I was under the impression that C++ was a good start to write my simple Android APP.

SO I spend 2 months learning C++! Now I Download Android Studio & that says I have to Download Java ? Then I start android studio and It's nearly GREEK to me! Some things I get but most of it is Gibberish!

all I want to do is create a <b>FREE Android APP</b>..... without spending $3 grand for a program. Then I started Visual Studio 2012! (came with the machine) my program is still in a Dos window?
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I think I'm a pretty smart guy but all of these programs are alittle crazy!
help me

[minomic]

Hi,

the greatest part of development for Android is done in Java. Actually there are some tools like NDK which allow you to write parts of your app using C++, but I have never tried them.

There are also some tool called "app builders" or something similar which allow you to "describe" how you want your app to be done and realize what you tell them but, again, I have never tried them.

Anyway, the point you have to understand is this: to develop a good app and to have full control over it, you must know Java.

[Codermik]

Right from Googles mouth:

The NDK is a toolset that allows you to implement parts of your app using native-code languages such as C and C++. For certain types of apps, this can be helpful so you can reuse existing code libraries written in these languages, but most apps do not need the Android NDK.

Before downloading the NDK, you should understand that the NDK will not benefit most apps. As a developer, you need to balance its benefits against its drawbacks. Notably, using native code on Android generally does not result in a noticable performance improvement, but it always increases your app complexity. In general, you should only use the NDK if it is essential to your app—never because you simply prefer to program in C/C++.

Typical good candidates for the NDK are CPU-intensive workloads such as game engines, signal processing, physics simulation, and so on. When examining whether or not you should develop in native code, think about your requirements and see if the Android framework APIs provide the functionality that you need.

In a nutshell, Java for Android unless you use something like Corona or Basic4Android.

[admkrk]

I do not know where you got the impression that C++ was a good start for writing an Android app, but that is just wrong. Using the NDK, you can have most of the logic written in C++, but even with Qt, you cannot write the GUI parts (using Qt means learning QML, for the GUI parts also). Android Studio is strictly Java and/or XML, unless it has changed in the last couple years.

As minomic said:

Anyway, the point you have to understand is this: to develop a good app and to have full control over it, you must know Java.