On Saturday, across the UK, people are going to learn how to code simple Android apps using MIT AppInventor.
The day is being coordinated by BCSWomen and you can sign up here. Signups close tomorrow (Tuesday). There are many reasons behind BCSWomen doing this kind of thing. Firstly, each site will be led by a woman, so we’re putting technical women on the stage. The day is open to kids and families, so we’re helping to show kids that coding is creative and can be something they can do. We’re hoping for a bit of publicity for us (women in tech, the BCS, etc.) too. And… it’s going to be fun.
The way the day works is that we’ll get everyone in and set up, then a whistle will blow (actually, 30+ whistles will blow at the same time all over the UK), and we’ll learn to code. To start we’ll all be making the same app, and in the first hour every site will do pretty much the same thing. We’ll make the “hello, world” of Android apps, which is a cat that goes Meow when you touch it (this involves putting a button on the screen, changing the appearance, linking input to output, adding assets to the project…). Then the whistle will blow and the official record attempt will be over, and we can relax into the day letting people build the apps they want to build. Nobody’s going to make Angry Birds, but you might just manage to make Pong or something like that. I wanted to make a test app to show someone the kind of thing we might get round to making, and I made a drawing app, (and then drew a flower) so this might give you an idea of what’s possible.
Sign up if you haven’t already – I’ve never broken a record before!