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:
- Getting Started
- Designing a Successful Application
- Testing
- Inter-/Intra-Process Communications
- Content Providers
- Graphics
- Graphical User Interface
- GUI Alerts: Menus, Dialogs, Toasts, and Notifications
- GUI: ListView
- Multimedia
- Data Persistence
- Telephone Applications
- Networked Applications
- Gaming and Animation
- Social Networking
- Location and Map Applications
- Accelerometer
- Bluetooth
- System and Device Control
- Other Programming Languages and Frameworks
- Strings and Internationalization
- 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