Over 150 recipes to help you solve the most common problems faced by Android Developers today
About This Book
- Find the answers to your common Android programming problems, from set up to security, to help you deliver better applications, faster
- Uncover the latest features of Android Marshmallow to make your applications stand out
- Get up to speed with Android Studio 1.4 - the first Android Studio based on the IntelliJ IDE from JetBrains
Who This Book Is For
If you are new to Android development and want to take a hands-on approach to learning the framework, or if you are an experienced developer in need of clear working code to solve the many challenges in Android development, you can benefit from this book. Either way, this is a resource you'll want to keep at your desk for a quick reference to solve new problems as you tackle more challenging projects.
What You Will Learn
- Along with Marshmallow, get hands-on working with Google's new Android Studio IDE
- Develop applications using the latest Android framework while maintaining backward-compatibility with the support library
- Master Android programming best practices from the recipes
- Create exciting and engaging applications using knowledge gained from recipes on graphics, animations, and multimedia
- Work through succinct steps on specifics that will help you complete your project faster
- Keep your app responsive (and prevent ANRs) with examples on the AsynchTask class
- Utilize Google Speech Recognition APIs for your app
- Make use of Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) to create Push Notifications for your users
- Get a better understanding of the Android framework through detailed explanations
In Detail
The Android OS has the largest installation base of any operating system in the world; there has never been a better time to learn Android development to write your own applications, or to make your own contributions to the open source community!
This "cookbook" will make it easy for you to jump to a topic of interest and get what you need to implement the feature in your own application. If you are new to Android and learn best by "doing," then this book will provide many topics of interest.
Starting with the basics of Android development, we move on to more advanced concepts, and we'll guide you through common tasks developers struggle to solve. The first few chapters cover the basics including Activities, Layouts, Widgets, and the Menu. From there, we cover fragments and data storage (including SQLite), device sensors, the camera, and GPS. Then we move on more advanced topics such as graphics and animation (including OpenGL), multi-threading with AsyncTask, and Internet functionality with Volley. We'll also demonstrate Google Maps and Google Cloud Messaging (also known as Push Notifications) using the Google API Library.
Finally, we'll take a look at several online services designed especially for Android development. Take your application big-time with full Internet web services without having to become a server admin by leveraging the power of Backend as a Service (BaaS) providers.
Rick Boyer
Rick Boyer is a senior software engineer with over 20 years of experience, including desktop, web, and mobile development. His first PDA ignited a passion for mobile development, which has extended to Windows CE, Windows Phone, and now Android. In 2011, he left the corporate world to start his own consulting business, NightSky Development. He now focuses exclusively on Android and provides consulting and development for start-ups and small businesses. Feel free to contact him through his page, www.eBoyer.Net.
