Google launches app-development course for the uninitiated

Google launched an app-development course on Thursday with online university Udacity, which aimed at specifically building of apps for its Android operating system. The difference between this and other Google-approved programmes is that this one requires no previous development experience.

"No programming experience? No problem!" Udacity says. "The skills you learn in this beginning Nanodegree program will accelerate your journey to becoming  a working Android Developer."

According to the course outline, it took 165 hours to complete which was around 21 days of full-time study (for 8 hours per day). It further added that the "base salary" of an Android developer fell between $52,400 and $136,000 in the US.

Google will also give scholarships for the mini-degree to the first 50 people to complete the Basics course.

Google was not giving out of sheer generosity, it wanted to foster the next big Android hit, according to commentators.

They add, it was however still an important gesture, in view of the fact that while many operating system creators offered people the tools to get started, it was rare that they showed you how to use those tools to people without any experience.