Starting on my first real project- Need Advice.

Question

I live in a pretty dangerous area and i have an idea for a sercutiy system that i want to develop that will be extremely affordable and better than all the average house hold alarm systems. Where do i start in regards to the coding side of the system, can i use java in terms of coding a sercurity system? Which platform do i use? If anyone worked on a similar project, could you give me general advice?

Answer 1

Beware that the cost of a GOOD diy sec'ty system will be comparable to the cost of a VERY GOOD ready option.
A good sec'ty system needs external services and utilities, sowtware/hardware/power backup systems, maintenance and updating plans and service.
On your own you can surely make a reliable sensor network if you go for something simple use AVR(Arduino)/Pic MCU for sensor and input/output devices a Raspberry pi/Beagle Board(or any other computing board) to handle the inputs, and a reliable server to handle the rest.
Beware that this will handle only intrusion detection. If police was reliable you most likely weren't living in a dangerous area, therefore you'll probably need external sec'ty services and here is where the costs take off.

Answer 2

I think it's better if you first start off with the overall architecture. Once you have the idea of how things should be connected, which hardware you'll use (a Raspberry Pi comes to mind, as well as an Arduino or a microcontroller), when it gets triggered, etc., you'll be better off to choose a programming language of your choice (or what happens to be available, based on the hardware you want to use).

If you choose, for example, an Arduino, it uses a C-like language that is easy to follow. A Raspberry Pi could be another option, and it can even be favourable to you in terms of choosing the target language.

My personal recommendation is: use the language you're most comfortable with first. If you discover that it's easier in another language, switch to it if you have the time. The important thing here is that you should already know how your system will work before picking a language.