Well, it’s been an interesting month since Public Engines maximized my occupational opportunities. I’ve been head-down learning the Android platform, with the goal of being able to write and sell apps in the Android Market to create a little passive income. I released Big Digital Clock, a free clock application, about a week ago, and on Saturday the Schlock Mercenary comic reader app (a straight-up port of the iPhone app) went into private beta.
I have about a week left of paid-for time until I have to go create some active revenue (by the way, I am available for contract or consulting work, please contact me if you have Ruby or Android development needs). What to do with that time?
In 2009 my New Year’s Resolution was to ship code every single day. I learned some dangerous and useful skills, and I’ve decided to put them on the line. So here begins the
App-a-Day Challenge
I am going to write and ship a paid app into the Android Market every single day for a week. They’ll be small in scope (kids’ games, map and timer utilities, etc), and they’ll probably all be $0.99 apps when I’m done.
Today is already half gone, and I have to go do an Android tutoring session in an hour, but I think there’s still time to ship today. Watch this space for an announcement: Balloon Pop! is coming soon!
Why, Dave, Why 
Wow, that is a lot of questions. 🙂 Okay, so:
– I will look forward to your IRC client. I’m using one that’s functional, but not entirely noteworthy.
– Android is pretty interesting. I strongly dislike Java, but happily that’s the worst of the platform so far. I think it does some things pretty tortuously (e.g. you can’t poll the BatteryManager to see if the phone is on a charger, you have to register for an Intent and handle power management events in a callback handler, etc).
– JRuby isn’t quite ready, but I’ll probably take a look at it once it’s more robust. I wanted to start with Java just to eliminate a source of inscrutable errors. I.e. right now if I get a weird bug I have to wonder if it’s my code or Dalvik. When I add JRuby I’ll have to add “the JRuby implementation” to the list of potential suspects. That said? Yes, I plan to do JRuby at some point on the phone.