I am currently working on an Android book to teach people on how to develop for Android using a non-traditional language, such as Scala, JRuby, or Clojure.<p>My idea is to lead the reader from essentially zero knowledge of Android to developing a relatively simple application, learning Android basics along the way.<p>The twist, in comparison to other books, is that it would allow the reader to develop in a language of his or her choice. The book will include information on how to set up a build environment, using the available frameworks/tools for a given language, etc.<p>Would you be interested in such a book, and, if so, what sorts of information do you think ought to be included?<p>Also, since the book would guide the reader into building some sort of application, what kind of application would be good to create? I have in mind a shopping list: something relatively simple to implement, yet potentially useful.<p>Thank you for your help.
Even if you don't include any Java-the-language material, I highly suggest adding some solid foundation on Java-the-platform. Android developers should always understand the rudiments of the jvm, java bytecode, dalvik bytecode, the differences between stack and register based execution, DX and .dex, and the entire toolchain involved in the build process.<p>As for the application to build, you should extend your shopping list to include some sort of network synchronization capability. Teaching Android development without networking is overlooking an extremely important part of the platform.