Beginning Android Development Tutorial from Safari Books Online

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Safari Books Online

Beginning Android Development is the first in a short series of blog posts giving tutorials in some of our most popular subjects. The below is taken from Beginning Android Development:  A Safari Guide and provides links to a number of resources available within Safari Books Online.

To follow along, either start your free trial or log in to Safari to learn how to develop your first Android application with help from Safari Books Online.

Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of Activities, Intents, Services or Content Providers. By completing this Beginning Android Development tutorial, you will understand all of this and more, all within the context of creating your own real-world Android applications.

We provide the complete picture, guiding you through the most popular Android resources produced by the top experts. Complete this tutorial and you will be well on your way to turning your ideas into Android applications.

Don’t have a Safari Books Online account? No worries. Sign up for a FREE Safari Books Online trial or jump right into a no-obligation subscription.

Target Audience: Android Developers.

This tutorial is for programmers who are either beginning Android development or are interested in filling any holes in understanding the fundamentals.

Android Learning Objectives:

When you have completed this tutorial, you will:

• Be familiar with the tools necessary to develop for Android
• Understand the Android framework
• Be able to create complete applications for Android

Beginning Android Development Tutorial Table of Contents:

• Lesson 1: Overview
• Lesson 2: Developer Tools
• Lesson 3: Development Framework
• Lesson 4: Android Building Blocks
• Lesson 5: User Interface
• Lesson 6: Data and Media Manipulation
• Lesson 7: Hardware Interface
• Lesson 8: Debugging and Publishing Apps
• Additional Tools

Lesson 1: Overview

Introduction to Android features, devices, and the supporting Ecosystem. [1 hour]

• Learning Android, by M. Gargenta, O’Reilly Media, Inc
  • Section 1.1. Android Overview
  • Section 1.2. History
  • Section 1.3. Android Versions
• Beginning Android Tablet Application Development, by W.-M. Lee, Wrox
  • Chapter 1: Getting Started with Android Programming for Tablets

 Lesson 2: Developer Tools

Supporting tools needed to develop applications. [1 hour]

• Programming Android, by Z. Mednieks, et al., O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Section 1.1. Installing the Android SDK and Prerequisites
  • Section 1.2. Test Drive: Confirm That Your Installation Works
  • Section 1.3. Components of the SDK
  • Section 1.4. Keeping Up-to-Date
  • Section 1.5. Example Code
• Video: Android App Development and Design: Learn by Video, by Ehrenstein video2brain, Peachpit Press
  • Video: Downloading Eclipse, Java, and the Android SDK [02:35]
  • Video: Installing Eclipse, Java, the Android SDK, and ADT [05:08]

Lesson 3: Development Framework

Explanation of how Android works. [2 hours]

• Programming Android, by Z. Mednieks, et al., O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Section 2.1. Android Is Reshaping Client-Side Java
  • Section 2.2. The Java Type System
  • Section 2.3. Scope
  • Section 2.4. Idioms of Java Programming
• Learning Android, by M. Gargenta, O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Section 2.1. Stack Overview
  • Section 2.2. Linux
  • Section 2.3. Native Libraries
  • Section 2.4. Dalvik
  • Section 2.5. Application Framework
  • Section 2.6. Applications

Lesson 4: Android Building Blocks

Details on using Android. [8 hours]

• Learning Android, by M. Gargenta, O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Section 4.1. What Are Main Building Blocks?
  • Section 4.2. A Real-World Example
  • Section 4.3. Activities
  • Section 4.4. Intents
  • Section 4.5. Services
  • Section 4.6. Content Providers
  • Section 4.7. Broadcast Receivers
  • Section 4.8. Application Context
• Programming Android, by Z. Mednieks, et al., O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Section 3.1. Traditional Programming Models Compared to Android
  • Section 3.2. Activities, Intents, and Tasks
  • Section 3.3. Other Android Components
  • Section 3.4. Static Application Resources and Context
  • Section 3.5. Resources
  • Section 3.6. The Android Application Runtime Environment
  • Section 3.7. Component Life Cycles
  • Section 3.8. Packaging an Android Application: The .apk File
  • Section 3.9. On Porting Software to Android
• Beginning Android 3, by M. Murphy, Apress
  • Chapter 23. Working with Resources
  • Chapter 38. Requesting and Requiring Permissions
• The Android Developer’s Cookbook, by J. Steele, et al., Addison- Wesley Professional
  • Activity Lifecycle Recipes

 Lesson 5: User Interface

Aspects related to display and interaction with the user.  [6 hours]

• Programming Android, by Z. Mednieks, et al., O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Section 7.1. Android GUI Architecture
  • Section 7.2. Assembling a Graphical Interface
  • Section 7.3. Wiring Up the Controller
• Android 3.0 Application Development Cookbook, by K. M. Mew, Packt Publishing
  • Chapter 2. Introduction
    • Declaring a layout
    • Applying a relative layout
    • Applying a table layout
    • Using ListViews and ListAdapters
    • Applying gravity and weight
    • Controlling layout during runtime
    • Optimizing for tablets and multiple screens
    • Dividing the screen into fragments
    • Running 3.0 and higher applications on older platforms
  • Chapter 4. Introduction
    • Creating and inflating an options menu
    • Designing Android compliant menu icons
    • Building a context sensitive menu
    • Handling menu selections
    • Building menu groups of checkable items
    • Applying shortcut keys and submenus
  • Beginning Android 3, by M. Murphy, Apress
    • Chapter 17. Showing Pop-Up Messages
  • Video: Android App Development and Design: Learn by Video, by Ehrenstein video2brain, Peachpit Press
    • Video: Defining a Simple Layout with ADT [10:15]
    • Video: A Closer Look at Layout Markup [05:37]
    • Video: Reusable Layout Components [02:35]

Lesson 6: Data and Media Manipulation

Collecting, modifying, saving, and sending data. [2 hours]

• The Android Developer’s Cookbook, by J. Steele, et al., Addison- Wesley Professional
  • Images
  • Audio
  • Video

 Lesson 7: Hardware Interface

Utilizing hardware on Android devices. [2 hours]

• The Android Developer’s Cookbook, by J. Steele, et al., Addison- Wesley Professional
  • Camera
  • Other Sensors
  • Telephony
• Video: Android App Development and Design: Learn by Video, by Ehrenstein video2brain, Peachpit Press
  • Video: Reading Sensor Data [10:29]

 Lesson 8: Debugging and Publishing Apps

Considerations for finalizing applications for use. [6 hours]

• Android Application Development, by R. Rogers, et al., O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Section 5.1. The Tools
  • Section 5.2. Eclipse Java Editor
  • Section 5.3. Summary
• Beginning Android Tablet Application Development, by W.-M. Lee, Wrox
  • Uses of the Android Emulator
  • Creating Snapshots
  • Installing Custom AVDS
  • Emulating Real Devices
  • SD Card Emulation
  • Emulating Physical Capabilities
  • Sending SMS Messages to the Emulator
  • Making Phone Calls
  • Transferring Files into and out of the Emulator
  • Resetting the Emulator
• Programming Android, by Z. Mednieks, et al., O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Section 4.1. Application Signing
  • Section 4.2. Placing an Application for Distribution in the Android Market
  • Section 4.3. Google Maps API Keys
  • Section 4.4. Specifying API-Level Compatibility
  • Section 4.5. Compatibility with Many Kinds of Screens
• Video: Android App Development and Design: Learn by Video, by Ehrenstein video2brain, Peachpit Press
  • Video: Packaging a Release Build [02:52]
  • Video: Publishing Your App [05:51]

 Additional Tools

Useful supporting tools for Android, many from third-party sources. [6 hours]

• Developing Android Applications with Adobe AIR, by V. Brossier, O’Reilly Media, Inc.
  • Chapter 1. AIR
  • Chapter 2. Call Me, Text Me
• Google App Inventor, by R. Roberts, Packt Publishing
  • Chapter 1. Obtaining and Installing Google App Inventor
  • Chapter 2. Learning Components

About Safari Books Online

Safari Books Online is an online learning library that provides access to thousands of technical, engineering, business, and digital media books and training videos. Get the latest information on topics like Windows 8, Android Development, iOS Development, Cloud Computing, HTML5, and so much more – sometimes even before the book is published or on bookshelves. Learn something new today with a free subscription to Safari Books Online.

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This entry was posted in Content - Highlights and Reviews, Tutorials and tagged android books & videos, android development, android tutorial, Safari Books Online. Bookmark the permalink.

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