Android for Programmers: An App-Driven Approach

The professional programmer’s Deitel® guide to smartphone and tablet app development using Android 4.3 and 4.4, the Eclipse-based Android Development Tools and the new Android Studio

Billions of apps have been downloaded from Google Play™! This book gives you everything you’ll need to start developing great Android apps quickly and getting them published on Google Play™. The book uses an app-driven approach–each new technology is discussed in the context of seven fully tested Android apps, complete with syntax coloring, code highlighting, code walkthroughs and sample outputs. Apps you’ll develop include:

Welcome App
Cannon Game
Tip Calculator
Doodlz
Twitter® Searches
Address Book
Flag Quiz

The first-generation Android phones were released in October 2008. By October 2013, a Strategy Analytics report showed that Android had 81.3% of the global smartphone market share, compared to 13.4% for Apple, 4.1% for Microsoft and 1% for Blackberry (bit.ly/1aqIZXf). Billions of apps have been downloaded from Google Play. There are now more than one billion activated Android devices worldwide and more than 1.5 million Android devices are being activated daily (venturebeat.com/2013/09/03/android-hits-1bactivations-and-will-be-called-kitkat-in-nextversion). The opportunities for Android app developers are enormous.

This book presents leading-edge computing technologies for professional software developers. At the heart of the book is the Deitel “app-driven approach”–concepts are presented in the context of complete working Android apps, rather than using code snippets. The introduction and app test drives at the beginning of each chapter show one or more sample executions. The book’s source code is available at www.deitel.com/books/androidfp2.

The apps in this book were carefully designed to introduce you to key Android features and APIs. You’ll quickly learn everything you need to start building Android apps–beginning with a testdrive of the Doodlz app in Chapter 1, then building your first app in Chapter 2. By the time you reach Chapter 9, you’ll be ready to create your own apps for submission to Google Play and other app marketplaces. You’ll master the Google Play submission process, including uploading your apps, deciding whether to sell your apps or offer them for free, and marketing them using in-app advertising, social media, Internet public relations and more.


Practical, example-rich coverage of:

Android 4.3 and 4.4
Android Development Tools, Android Studio
Supporting Various Screen Sizes/Resolutions
Accessibility, Internationalization, Graphics
Activities, Fragments, Intents, Preferences
GUIs, Layouts, Menus, Resource Files, Lists, Adapters, Events, Touch/Gesture Processing
Immersive Mode, Printing Framework, PrintHelper
Assets (Images, Audio), View Animation
Threading, Collections, SQLite Database
Social sharing via implicit intents
Google Play™, App Publishing, Pricing, Monetization, Marketing, In-App Advertising, In-App Billing and more.