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Google is now offering a new online course on how to build scalable apps on the Google App Engine platform to help Java developers increase their skills and development toolkits.
The class, “Developing Scalable Apps with Google App Engine,” is being offered through the online education service Udacity.com, according to a July 22 post by Jocelyn Becker, a Google developer advocate, on the Google Cloud Platform Blog.
The course can be taken for free as a self-guided program where all of the course materials are downloadable, or users can get a free two-week Udacity trial and then pay $150 per month to be a Udacity user.
“The full course materials—all the videos, quizzes and forums—are available for free for all students by selecting ‘View Courseware'” on the Udacity Website, she wrote. “Personalized ongoing feedback and guidance from coaches is also available to anyone who chooses to enroll in Udacity’s guided program.”
A wide variety of tasks will be completed by course participants, she wrote. “As you work through the course, you’ll build a conference management application that lets users create and query conferences,” wrote Becker. “The course starts with an entertaining introduction to platform as a service (PaaS). Magnus Hyttsten, Google developer advocate, discusses the evolution of server-side computing, from apps that could run on a computer under your desk, to applications that require the computing power of a data center.”
Course participants will also learn how to store data in the Datastore, use Memcache to speed up responses and cut down on Datastore quota usage, write queries, understand indexes, and use queues for tasks that execute outside front end requests, she wrote. “Along the way, you’ll build a backend App Engine application that uses Google Cloud Endpoints to expose its API to other applications.”
Also featured will be lessons in how to implement Endpoints to make the Cloud Platform API available externally, and how to use the Endpoints API from an Android application, she explained.
Earlier in July, Google announced an Android apps basics course on Udacity to teach more developers about how they can create and improve their apps for the popular mobile operating system, according to an earlier eWEEK report. That course, “Developing Android Apps: Android Fundamentals,” offered step-by-step training to build an Android app as well as best practices for mobile development in general. The eight-week course required about six hours of coursework a week.
Udacity’s fee of $150 per month allows students who choose that option to participate in in-class projects, receive feedback and code reviews, get personal coaching and receive a certificate at the end of the class, according to the Udacity Website.
Google often offers online classes for developer training in a wide range of Google software disciplines.
Earlier this month, Google announced a traveling North American Developer Roadshow for its growing group of Google Cloud Platform developers so they can continue to expand their skills with its products. The remaining roadshow sessions on this tour are July 30 in Seattle; July 31 in Vancouver, British Columbia; Aug. 5 in New York City; Aug. 7 in Cambridge, Mass.; Aug. 12 in Toronto; August 12 in Boulder, Colo.; Aug. 14 in Austin, Texas; Aug. 19 in Atlanta; and Aug. 22 in Chicago.
In April, Google began offering a free online course through the Code School program to Google Maps developers who want to update their skills using the Google Maps SDK for iOS.
In March, Google offered a free online Google Analytics Platform Principals course to digital marketers who want to gain new insights and lessons about the platform.
A free online course about the Google Drive API was offered to developers in February, including lessons in using the API as well as authenticating the code to uploading files, retrieving metadata and more.