Since Android Things is a simplified version of Android, you only need a very basic knowledge of how Android works. If you have never done any Android development you will be able to follow along because our examples are kept simple by design.
If you have some experience with other similar platforms, that will be handy, but not necessary. This guide is designed for people that have little to no experience with electronics and microcontrollers but want to get started with them.
Basic knowledge of electronics is desired. That implies that you are familiar with the concepts of voltage and current, as well as resistors, diodes, and capacitors. You also need to know how to read a diagram (there will be a few in this book). All that is very basic knowledge. If you are not familiar with these concepts, you still can follow along, but ultimately you need to understand them to design your own schematics.
Throughout the book we will be using Kotlin as the programming language because it is more modern than Java and allows us to write more concise and easier-to-follow code. Kotlin is meant to be the future of Android development, and it makes a lot of sense to use it on the newest Android platform.