Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition

By : John Horton
Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition

By: John Horton

Overview of this book

Are you trying to start a career in programming, but haven't found the right way in? Do you have a great idea for an app, but don't know how to make it a reality? Or maybe you're just frustrated that in order to learn Android, you must know Java. If so, then this book is for you. This new and expanded second edition of Android Programming for Beginners will be your companion to create Android Pie applications from scratch. We will introduce you to all the fundamental concepts of programming in an Android context, from the basics of Java to working with the Android API. All examples use the up-to-date API classes, and are created from within Android Studio, the official Android development environment that helps supercharge your application development process. After this crash course, we'll dive deeper into Android programming and you'll learn how to create applications with a professional-standard UI through fragments and store your user's data with SQLite. In addition, you'll see how to make your apps multilingual, draw to the screen with a finger, and work with graphics, sound, and animations too. By the end of this book, you'll be ready to start building your own custom applications in Android and Java.
Table of Contents (35 chapters)
Android Programming for Beginners - Second Edition
Contributors
Preface
Other Books You May Enjoy
Index

Summary


We have achieved a lot in this chapter. It is true that much of the XML code is still generally incomprehensible. That's OK, because in the next two chapters, we will be really getting to grips with the visual designer and learning more about the XML code, although, ultimately, our aim is to use the XML as little as possible.

We have seen how, when we drag a button onto our design, the XML code is generated for us. Also, if we change an attribute in the Attributes window then, again, the XML code is edited for us. Furthermore, we can type (or, in our case, copy and paste) the XML code directly to create new buttons on our UI or edit existing ones.

We have seen as well as written our first Java code, including comments that help us document our code, and we have even added our own methods to output debugging messages to the logcat and pop-up Toast messages to the user.

In the next chapter, we will take a full guided tour of Android Studio to see exactly where different things get done...