New Subscriber Benefit: Appinars!
Starting with Version 7.2 of The Busy Coder���s Guide to Android Development,
the APK edition of the book contains a new overflow
menu option, for what���s known as Community Theater. This gives you access
to a small-but-growing library of ���appinars���: app-based training modules.
An appinar blends:
Video segments
Slides with voiceovers
Code reviews ��� including your ability to browse the code on the device
Other media, such as screenshots
The net effect is a bit like a conference or Meetup presentation in
your pocket. Or, if you install the app on a tablet, it is a presentation
in your backpack
or purse or briefcase or very large pocket or something.
Appinars run 30-60 minutes apiece, though you can leave and come back later
if you do not have that kind of time to spend in one session. In this
first official release, there are a total of 11 appinars, and more will
be added in each new book update. I hope to have ~50 by the end of 2016.
Compared with the training materials from Google, my approach has its
pros and cons. The big benefit is bandwidth: my appinars are about
10% of the size of an equivalent full video, as most of what you are seeing
is not in the form of a video, but simply audio with on-device
presentation slides in Web format. On the other hand, the production
quality is not as slick as what Google offers ��� for example, I do not
plan on traveling to Los Angeles and having a professional makeup
artist turn me into a zombie.
I would like to thank the beta testers who tried out Community Theater
over the past month or so. Much of their feedback has been incorporated
into what you see here, though there is still room for improvement.
If you encounter reproducible bugs, the Book Bug Bounty program covers
the APK ��� details are in the book preface.
More information about using Community Theater and watching the appinars
can be found in the last chapter of the book (Appendix C in Version 7.2).
My hope is that offering these appinars, in conjunction with the book
and other Warescription benefits,
will be useful to subscribers. Your feedback is welcome.
