Android Development Beginner: What are resources and what are their purposes?

Question

so I am starting to learn how to develop Android Applications. I have experience with Java and C# from school, and I would say that while I am not a pro, I definitely have a fairly good handle on Object Oriented Programming.

So one thing I don't understand about Android is resources. For example, let's say I have a TextView in my GUI. Why do I have to define a string "Hello," then make the value that string called "Hello" = "hello?" I don't understand why the software development kit doesn't just let users make that string value "hello," and be done with it. What is the purpose of storing numbers and strings and stuff into resources? I know that there must be a solid explanation for this, but I just don't know what.

Also, I am experimenting with an Addition program (where I prompt the user with a randomized math problem, and they can input their answer, and my program will check if it is right or wrong, and restart). So I have a TextView for the problem (ie, 1 + 1). When I create the TextView, I had to create a problemString in the resources, and then assign the problem TextView to the problemString. However, in my program, when the user has gotten the math problem right or wrong, I write over the problem with a new problem by simply changing the text of the textview. In no way do I interact with the problemString from the resources. And this works. So again, my question is, what is the purpose of having application resources and what role do they play in an application.

Also, how do I access, write over, and do stuff with the application resources.

Sorry that this is a really long question, but I really think Android dev. is really cool, and I am very eager to learn. Any help is APPRECIATED! xD

Thanks!

Answer 1

Imagine your application with a thousand different strings to display to a user. If you need to change 30 of them, do you want to dig through all your code, or one file?

Also localization is another reason for having different sets of string resources, as well as other resources, specific to a locale. Take the above scenario, a thousand different strings, AND three different languages. How would you handle that? Three different version programs? No.