Android Application Development for Dummies

by Donn Felker

The fun and friendly guide to creating applications on the Android platform The popularity of the Android market is soaring with no sign of slowing down. The open nature of the Android OS offers programmers the freedom to access the platform's capabilities and this straightforward guide walks you through the steps for creating amazing Android applications. Android programming expert Donn Felker explains how to download the SDK, get Eclipse up and running, code Android applications, and submit your finished products to the Android Market. Featuring two sample programs, this introductory book explores everything from the simple basics to more advanced aspects of the Android platform. No matter your level of programming experience, Android Application Development For Dummies is an ideal guide for getting started with developing applications for the Android platform.

Genres: Programming, Technology, Technical, Reference, Nonfiction

357 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2010

Reviews

[Blase Biello · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal book. I would definitely recommend this book to any of my friends, looking to develop Android Applications. For anyone that is not really interested in Android Application Development, than this is definitely not their book. But, then again; why would they even pick up this book? So, there's no negative aspects to this book, when looking at it that way. This is a very educational book and a lot of what you read within, is to educate yourself so there's not much enjoyment to it. But, for anyone looking to learn how to develop, this is the BEST book for them.

I enjoyed reading the book because the personal narration along with the lessons, made it more enjoyable. Also, I felt accomplished after finishing the book that I could actually complete all of the tasks taught in the book. This book helped me with my personal life, by helping me develop android applications.

This is definitely a good read for anyone who is looking to start off in this field.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The product description and editorial review copy and paste from the book's back cover claim you do not need to be a programmer in order to use this book, and you will be up and running in no time with your app: that is quickly shown to be not true as, per the author's introduction, you need to be well versed in Java, XML, and generally have a pretty good idea of what you're doing vs. what I typically find in the "For Dummies" offerings.

The book, however, is well-written but appears to be a repeat of the same documentation you can get from Google's SDK website. I would recommend you go to Google's SDL site and go through the sample scripts and numerous tutorials vs. dropping $20 for this book.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the best Intro to Android book I've read so far - I was expecting to be disappointed, but was actually impressed that the book covers some topics that other intro books don't, like using the visual designer and debug monitor from eclipse. I'd recommend this as a good starter book for anyone interested in learning how to develop an android app.

[Sofia Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for sharing this excellent book. I'm excited to introduce it to our team at STS Software GmbH

[Patrick]

A nice introduction to writing Android applications in Java. Worth reading if for no other reason than the fact that Android programming is a far more different paradigm than I would have initially guessed. There's definitely a lot of weird gotchas. On the downside, the book only just touches the surface of Android development, so you'll definitely be doing a lot of Google searching as soon as you start writing your own apps. But it's a great way to get yourself started in this new world of smart phone app development.

[Shrimp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good introduction to android development and I was happy with the sample programs that the author selected to illustrate/teach different features. The one major drawback was that I had some pretty serious issues executing the sample code since it contained errors that I was unable to resolve. I'm not sure if it was user error or that the book (or version I own) is a bit dated and nuances in code are not compatible with the current Eclipse IDE. Whatever the case, the concepts taught were useful and it was worth the read.

[Walter Straus]

currently reading

[Ariadna73 · Rating 3 out of 5]

But so simple that I actually could not make anything useful of it.

[Jon Chin · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many code issues!

[Jwalant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book with information for starting development on Android platform

[Greg Belanger · Rating 3 out of 5]

some typos in code that made it challenging, didnt feel like i got the real grasp of things like in a Head First book

[Firas AlMannaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good android book for beginners, I recommend it for any one who want to learn android apps development.

[Daniel Lema · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me dejó mis dudas. Voy a buscar otro libro a ver cómo me va.

[Aysha A.Hasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good start for beginners :)

[Mark Bates · Rating 3 out of 5]

API is dated. Don't like build a big application model to learn an API. Was OK...at best.