April 2012
Intermediate to advanced
770 pages
16h 48m
English
Content preview from Android Cookbook
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Chapter 1. Getting Started
1.1. Introduction: Getting Started
Discussion
The famous “Hello, World” pattern came about when Kernighan and Plaugher wanted to write a “recipe” on how to get started in any new programming language and environment. This chapter is affectionately dedicated to these fine gentlemen, and to everyone who has ever struggled to get started in a new programming paradigm.
1.2. Learning the Java Language
Problem
Android apps are written in the Java programming 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.
Solution
Lots of resources are available for learning Java. Most of them will teach you what you need, but will also mention some API classes that are not available for Android development. Avoid any sections in any resource that talk about topics listed in the lefthand column of Table 1-1.
Table 1-1. Parts of the Java API to ignore
| Java API | Android equivalent |
| Swing, applets | Android’s GUI; see Chapter 7. |
Application entry point main() | See Recipe 1.6. |
| J2ME/Java ME | Most of android.* replaces Java ME
API. |
| Servlets/JSP, J2EE/Java EE | Designed for server-side use. |
Discussion
Here are some books and resources on Java programming:
Java in a Nutshell by David Flanagan (O’Reilly) is a good introduction for programmers, particularly those who are coming from C/C++. This book has grown from an acorn to a coconut in size, to keep up with the growth of Java ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.