[fish95.1]

I am immensely interested in coding, and app development. I knew I wanted to someday create apps, long before I had a single real idea for an app. This was good because I felt as though I had time to learn a language in the mean time, so that when an idea struck me, I'd be ready to try and really make it come to life. I am currently learning java, a pursuit I began online for free, but that has now evolved into an introductory college course.

However, in the last few weeks, I thought of two ideas for apps, which I love to be able to construct. So now, I feel that I am in a rush, the clock has started, and I need to learn enough to develop a basic prototype of an app.
This brings me to a classic question asked on many HF threads:
"What is the best language to learn [first]?"

However, given the above information, my question specifically relates to mobile app development. I have read a fair amount about this online, but would love to hear some opinions from the HF community. The apps I have in mind would have to access the camera, contacts, messaging, etc. of the phone, and I am guessing this significantly complicates the development, but could be wrong.

Does making an app that interacts with other phone functions/systems make it significantly more difficult to create? Or just more complex, but not that much harder?

I know a decision usually has to be made as to which market and OS the original version of an app will be tailored to (Android Marketplace or Apple's App Store), and preferably both my ideas could come to fruition in the App Store. With that in mind:

What languages could I learn most quickly (or should I learn) to create an app for Apple OS that includes the aforementioned capabilities? Additionally, is there a language I may be best suited for due to the experience I already have through a (fairly shallow) background with java.

Finally, I have also researched the pros and cons of mobile websites versus full-blown mobile apps, but I know that for the functions of my current two ideas, mobile websites would not suffice. However, mainly out of curiosity I would like to know this:

For a fairly basic app that is almost identical in function and user interface to a corresponding mobile website, is the source code behind both very similar, or do completely different languages have to be used for each/is it much more complicated?

I am incredibly thankful to all that read this entire post and/or that are willing to answer any of these questions!

[stdio]

Too many web devs out there in the market already mate, try learning some lower level language and create non dependant crypters. Huge need for them on HF :)
Good luck

[fish95.1]

Too many web devs out there in the market already mate, try learning some lower level language and create non dependant crypters. Huge need for them on HF :)
Good luck

Thank you for the advice, but I would still appreciate answers to my original questions from anyone else willing to help!

[JIM NASIUM'S GYMNASIUM]

"What is the best language to learn [first]?"

Depends. Android apps use Java, iOS apps use Swift/Objective-C. There are frameworks out there that allow you to use different languages to write apps as well, and these languages get translated to native code depending on the platform you're compiling for. React-native comes to mind, which allows you to write apps for Android and iOS using Javascript.

Does making an app that interacts with other phone functions/systems make it significantly more difficult to create? Or just more complex, but not that much harder?

For android apps, no. In most cases, its as easy as importing the correct package and using it the way you want. All you need to do is specify the permissions your app needs and the rest is pretty easy. I'm not sure about iOS apps, as I've never worked on one before, but I would assume that the answer is similar.

What languages could I learn most quickly (or should I learn) to create an app for Apple OS that includes the aforementioned capabilities? Additionally, is there a language I may be best suited for due to the experience I already have through a (fairly shallow) background with java.

If you're only interested in creating an iOS app, stick to Swift. If you want to target both Android and iOS, using a framework like React-native, Cordova, Ionic, etc will allow you to write applications in web-based languages that can be used on both Android and iOS.

For a fairly basic app that is almost identical in function and user interface to a corresponding mobile website, is the source code behind both very similar, or do completely different languages have to be used for each/is it much more complicated?

It depends on the technologies that you used to build the app. If you build the app using React-native, then you can re-use almost all of your code on a website that is built with React.

[fish95.1]

Wow Mrparkers, I cannot accurately express how helpful this all is to me! I am very glad you took the time to answer all of these questions. I will definitely explore React-native. Thank you!