Android Application Development For Dummies [Paperback]

Donn Felker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2010

The fun and friendly guide to creating applications on the Android platform

The popularity of the Android market is soaring with no sign of slowing down. The open nature of the Android OS offers programmers the freedom to access the platform's capabilities and this straightforward guide walks you through the steps for creating amazing Android applications. Android programming expert Donn Felker explains how to download the SDK, get Eclipse up and running, code Android applications, and submit your finished products to the Android Market. Featuring two sample programs, this introductory book explores everything from the simple basics to more advanced aspects of the Android platform.

• Takes you soup through nuts of developing applications for the Android platform
• Begins with downloading the SDK, then explains how to code Android applications and submit projects to the Android Market
• Written by Android guru Donn Felker, who breaks every aspect of developing applications for the Android platform into easily digestible pieces

No matter your level of programming experience, Android Application Development For Dummies is an ideal guide for getting started with developing applications for the Android platform.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'...a highly capable book from a well regarded self-help book series on a subject that is very topical at the moment' (Will Roney, 5 December 2011).

From the Back Cover

Here's just what you need to start developing feature-rich, amazing Android apps

Even if you've never written a mobile application, this book has the know-how you need to turn your great ideas into cool apps for the Android platform. With millions of smartphone users and a cornucopia of carriers, Android is a great place to ply the app development trade. This book shows you from the ground up how to set up your environment and create an app. Read on to become an Android developer extraordinaire!

• Welcome to Android — learn what makes a great Android app, how to use the SDK, ways to work with mobile screens, and how the development process works

• Make users happy — find out how to design an interface that mobile users will love

• Learn the code — work with the activity lifecycle and Android framework classes, use the Eclipse debugger, and create a home screen widget for your app

• Beyond the basics — take your skills up a notch with apps that involve SQLite databases and multiple screens

• Price and publish — pick the right price for your app and get it into the Android Market

Open the book and find:

• Cool ways to use the accelerometer in your app

• How to turn mobile limitations into opportunities

• Tips on installing and setting up the tools

• Step-by-step coding directions

• Ways to make your apps more marketable

• How to create really useful menus

• Advice on app pricing

• Ten great sample apps and SDKs, including code

Learn to:

• Create apps for hot smartphones like Droid X, Galaxy S, and MyTouch

• Download the SDK and get Eclipse up and running

• Code Android applications

• Submit your apps to the Android Market

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (December 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047077018X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470770184
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 71 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great starter book to Android development! March 21, 2011

By Cicatrize

Format:Paperback

I'm going to preface this review by saying that I have been programming for about 15 years, and have been working professionally as a developer for almost 3 years. My background is in VB, C#, Javascript, HTML, and even a little dabbling in C/C++. With that in mind, my Java knowledge was essentially everything I had learned from C# (which is very similar), and the tutorials on Google's Android development website. You could argue Javascript may help, but they're so different that I don't think it counts as experience.

I finished all of the tutorials on Google's site and still felt like I wasn't really grasping the concept of Android development. For those of you who have developed in C#/VB for Windows or Windows Mobile, you may understand what I mean when I say that going from something so straight-forward as using Visual Studio and .NET languages to something a little more complex and code-heavy like C++ or Java while using an unfamiliar IDE like Eclipse can be a little daunting at first. Google's tutorials, while full of great examples, don't really take the time to explain the "why" and then "what" of Android development, and instead have a more confusing approach of "Step 1: Type all this code in; Step 2: That code you just type does [this]; Step 3: Run your application".

The first half of this book is incredibly informative, and after reading only a couple short paragraphs on things I've already tried to learn and failed, I really understood it this time. The author's tone and descriptions make even the most complicated topics very easy to understand.... The author also likes to commonly encourage the reader, writing that we are "experts", and making assumptions that we understand what we just read, even after it was some insanely complicated thing that was described in detail across four pages. It seems like this approach might be little odd, but I liked it. It kept my confidence up as I was reading.

The second half of the book, while also great, starts a little on the fast track. There are other reviews that mention this, and although I partially agree, it's also worth mentioning that a lot of the things that are flown through quickly come together a little later in the book. However, the pace does seem to go from a "one line at a time" methodology into a "type these 60 lines of code in and I'll explain it later" sort of teaching. While I don't prefer this, and I think it's a bit messy, the information IS there; it's just harder to soak it all in than it was in the first half of the book. The application you are building at the end is quite large, and I have tried to think of an easier way the author could have filled me with the knowledge instead of the approach taken, but I really couldn't think of a better way, mainly due to the way the code has to be written for the particular task at hand.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think it was a great introduction to Android development, and is leaps and bounds above Google's documentation, at least for a beginner. I wish the book was a little longer, and I wish the author didn't frequently say things like "I could write an entire book on [subject], so I won't go into detail about this. If you want to learn more, read the documentation at [Google link]." For these reasons, I gave it four stars instead of five. The fundamentals do exist in this book, but I would have liked to have seen more.

I would recommend this book for anyone with any sort of programming background looking to get into Android development. I would probably not recommend it to someone who has no programming background whatsoever. Read more ›

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. December 15, 2010

By Emoore

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I would buy Beginning Programming with Java for dummies first, unless you are already Ok with Java Programming. I bought both books at the same time, so when I was done with one I could continue into the other. For Dummies is a great bunch of books.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a good Kindle book July 6, 2011

By weaver

Format:Kindle Edition

I give this book four stars. But if I could give the kindle version a rating I would give it one star.

Like many "programming books" no one went though the book to make sure the "code" in the book was readable in the Kindle screen. Even with the smallest font and the book turned in the landscape mode the text for the code examples wraps so badly that it is impossible to read. In many places in the code markers were put in in a format like this "--> 12"; most of the time these are just floating and have no significance what-so-ever. Worst thing is that when it wraps most of the time you miss 2 characters from the end of the line to the beginning of the next. Most of the time you can figure it out but, once and a while you can't and you need to download the source code to look at it.

So if you are going to buy this book, I would recommend the paper version.

I wish I knew how to return it and get a hard copy. Anyone know?

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising well done on the subject. March 22, 2011

By T. Dannar

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been working with android for about 9 months now and have release a few apps. Most of the books on the subject I have read are out of date by the time they have where released. This one wasn't, it did a very good job covering the basics of android.

Cons:
The only real con I had was that there where still bug's in the sample code. Which if a programmer with no android experience where to pick up this book they maybe be put off when they can't figure out why the programs not working where theirs is the same as a books. The ones I found while playing with the samples where small easy fixes but still things that should have been addressed.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book and a very helpful author! December 14, 2010

By Fred Savage

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book(I have the Kindle version) has been great to follow, and I have had some struggles (part because I haven't been actively writing Java for over a year, but it is coming back fast with this book) but I am learning and enjoying as I go. I had a hitch today on the Silent Mode Toggle App and was very impressed that I was able to contact the author, Donn Felker, directly via e-mail to ask questions. I was also impressed that Donn replied within minutes of my e-mail. My problem was a NullPointerException, and Donn got me back on track by having me re-open Eclipse. He then had me, and I quote his e-mail, "As for the project cleaning, go to the Project Menu, and press Clean. Then go back to Project and select Build (unless you have build automatically selected, it will do it automatically if you do)." and this removed the error and made the application work perfectly. Donn also gives access to source files for the book([...])(this is in addition to the ones on [...]) that you can compare to (If you have the kindle version like myself (I noticed one "}" had been cut off in the kindle version of the book in the Silent Mode Toggle App - not a big deal as Eclipse will show you where each matching pair of "{}" is, and if one is missing, it stands out - in this case it is the one that closes the class MainActivity).

Ultimately if you want to learn Android Development, this book is great! The book is also very up to date! I also have no regrets getting Kindle as I have dual monitors and I like being able to compare the code in the book to my code in eclipse side to side.