Android Cookbook: Problems & Solutions for Android Developers – #bookreview #in #programming

Posted on by Si Dunn

Android Cookbook
Edited by Ian F. Darwin
(O’Reilly, paperback, list price $54.99; Kindle edition, list price$43.99)

Several dozen Android developers have contributed some 200 tested “recipes” to this hefty how-to guide for building Android apps.

But be sure you know Java reasonably well before tackling Android Cookbook. As the book’s editor, Ian F. Darwin, notes, “Android apps are written in the Java language before they are converted into Android’s own class file format, DEX. If you don’t know how to program in Java you will find it hard to write Android apps.”

The 661-page book starts at the traditional “Hello, World” level so you can test two different approaches. At the command line, it shows how to “create a new Android project without using the Eclipse ADT plug-in.” And then it shows how to create an Android application using Eclipse.

From there, a clear and simple problem-solution approach is taken, and the solutions are illustrated with code examples.

The 22 chapters cover a wide range:

  1. Getting Started
  2. Designing a Successful Application
  3. Testing
  4. Inter-/Intra-Process Communications
  5. Content Providers
  6. Graphics
  7. Graphical User Interface
  8. GUI Alerts: Menus, Dialogs, Toasts, and Notifications
  9. GUI: ListView
  10. Multimedia
  11. Data Persistence
  12. Telephone Applications
  13. Networked Applications
  14. Gaming and Animation
  15. Social Networking
  16. Location and Map Applications
  17. Accelerometer
  18. Bluetooth
  19. System and Device Control
  20. Other Programming Languages and Frameworks
  21. Strings and Internationalization
  22. Packaging, Deploying, and Distributing/Selling Your App

In Ian Darwin’s view, “Android is ‘the open source revolution’ applied to cellular telephony and mobile computing. At least part of the revolution.”

There have been worries in the past about Android’s future. But Darwin and the book’s contributors are among the many who remain firmly convinced that “Android is definitely here to stay!” Darwin adds: “This book is here to help the Android developer community share the knowledge that will make it happen.”

— Si Dunn

Author

  • Si Dunn is a novelist, screenwriter, photojournalist, and book reviewer. His published books include: DARK SIGNALS, a Vietnam War memoir; ERWIN'S LAW, a private-detective novel; and JUMP, a novella about a combat veteran suffering from PTSD and alienation while trying to work for newspapers as a journalist. Several of his feature screenplays recently were under option to movie producers. He spent nearly 15 years working as a technical writer and software tester in the telecommunications industry. His current programming interests include Go, JavaScript, Python, R, Angular, and other languages and frameworks. He is a U.S. Navy veteran and a graduate of the University of North Texas.

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Published by Si Dunn

Si Dunn is a novelist, screenwriter, photojournalist, and book reviewer. His published books include: DARK SIGNALS, a Vietnam War memoir; ERWIN'S LAW, a private-detective novel; and JUMP, a novella about a combat veteran suffering from PTSD and alienation while trying to work for newspapers as a journalist. Several of his feature screenplays recently were under option to movie producers. He spent nearly 15 years working as a technical writer and software tester in the telecommunications industry. His current programming interests include Go, JavaScript, Python, R, Angular, and other languages and frameworks. He is a U.S. Navy veteran and a graduate of the University of North Texas.

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