Head First Android Development: A Brain-Friendly Guide

For the company I work for I was tasked to write an Android application. I had no mobile experience at all and since we use C# we went with Xamarin to build the app. I did the typical "look on the Internet" for training videos and articles to learn what I needed to learn. Within a handful months, version 1.0 of the app was done and published.I don't typically like to go out and get books since doing so can drag on and on and you spend a lot of extra time getting "up to speed". But, I knew I blew through a bunch of stuff getting the app ready and there was more to learn. I then began to look at various Android development books to go back and pick up on stuff I didn't fully grasp. With knowing what I learned on my own and looking at this book's list of chapters and the details of the chapters "out there in the open" in the table of contents (which makes referencing easy when going back to find something), it appeared this book was well laid out and hit the most important topics. Plus, reading through some of the topics in the book I had learned on my own, I liked the way things were explained.I'm only about half-way through but here's what I like about the book: 1) Simple and to the point 2) Not the typical page after page of text. I'm visual when learning. There are lots of diagrams and charts and such. 3) The "dumb questions" sections which actually tend to reflect the "dumb questions" I have when I reach those sections. 4) Chapter summaries which pretty much hit everything covered in the chapter. 5) Space to write your own notes (the notes they include also are pretty spot on) 6) Examples (and I mean good examples) that refer you back to earlier examples in the book, but spell it out again for you right there instead of saying "please go back and re-learn this part". This may add a few pages to the book but when you are learning, having to switch back and forth and fit the pieces together seems to break up the learning process. This books basically says "here is what we did back in chapter X and here it is again".I am very pleased with this book so far. It may not cover all the intricate details in depth of Android development, but I highly recommend it if you are new to it. Plus, adding EVERYTHING to a "welcome to Android" book would just make the learning process hard. This book seems to cover a vast majority of what we need to know to get things done. It has some sections in the end to give an intro to some more technical details plus a list of things not covered in the book to give clues on what else is out there, with links to get you started. It would seem this book gives a very good foundation to build from.

I'm almost finished with my second read of this new Head First book. It's an excellent introduction. Like the HF Design Patterns book, there is something about the detailed approach to conveying complex information that really does the job. It's engaging and progresses with those little steps, repeatedly, to drive home essential Android skills. I've been programming in Java for over a year, have taken four OOP courses, including Java, in college, and have read many books on Java and related topics. This works. It is not cartoonish by any means and a great first step; highly detailed, with arrows and explanations that leave no (beginner) stone unturned. Android programming is not that easy, to my surprise. But beware: you better know your Java.

I have purchased close to half a dozen books for learning Android App development.I would say that *for me* this one fits the best.I have completed Chapter 6, and I could easily use it as an example to write a simple app for my local animal rescue by replacing drinks with pets. I did find the explanation on page 241 abou the OnItemClickListener to be puzzling. The authors writes that it is a nested class, but even Google's own documention says that it is an interface. I found the explanation at --- programmerinterview.com/index.php/java-questions/java-anonymous-class-example/ --- to be helpful.I will be editing this review as I continue reading the rest of the book.EDIT (October 16, 2015)===I skipped chapter 8 which teaches nested fragments and continued on to chapter 9 which develops a new app.Because Google has switched over to Material as the new theme, the Action Bar icon pack is no longer available for download at the link mentioned on page 379 of the book.I was able to find a download link that still worked.Since Amazon won't let me put a link, I suggest Googling for Android_Design_Icons_20131106.zipEDIT (October 16, 2015) part #2===No matter what I did, the ic_action_new_event icon would not appear in the Action Bar.I had to go to File --> Project Structure.Then single-click on the entry 'app' in the left-side box under Modules.Then in the larger middle box, single-click the Dependencies tab.Then single-click on the entry that has the phrase 'appcompat'; my entire entry was com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.3.After that entry is highlighted, click on the red minus sign on the right-side box.Android Studio automatically includes the Android Support Library v7 into a new project. Mine does. My Android Studio is 1.2.1.1After you do this, take note of the last few paragraphs on page 378 in the book.EDIT (October 19, 2015)===I found it wasn't necessary to remove com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.3 from my project.Make certain that all the items in menu_main.xml have android:showAsAction instead of app:showAsActionAndroid Studio will draw red squiggly lines under each of them.Ignore those red squiggly lines.The app will run fine.

This book is excellent to learn Android Programming if you are a novice with Android Programming. There is plenty lab work where you actually learn how to write Android Programs. Doing the lab work is critical to learning the programming. Don't avoid it. This book is well organized and well written. For the next book after reading this, try "Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide 2nd edition" You won't be sorry. I signed up for Lynda.com courses in Android programming. They were good. But both these books are better.

Incredibly easy to understand and follow. The language and example are simple, yet , they cover all the development aspects

I know like some said that this book is for beginner but while trying to understand how Android works, I read a couple of samples of book with my Kindle about the subject and this one is by far the best book to visually understand all the processes behind the interaction of your application and the system. For sure, you will have to grab a much advanced book to be able to construct something more complicated than a todo list app but it's a really well written book like about every Head First book that I've read.

Firstly, I am a C++ programmer so before I bought this book, I skimmed through a tutorial java playlist on youtube which really made this book completely stress free.It is a FANTASTIC book! It explains everything, and in a way that is so comfortable. It speaks to the reader in a very casual manner and never takes itself too seriously which makes learning so easy. I am fed up of educational books that bore the heck out of me. This book wants you to keep learning and it does that by making sure you actually want to keep on reading,Love it! I would recommend it to anybody that wants to make an app and has a bit of programming experience.

Ce bouquin est tout simplement LE livre à avoir pour apprendre le développement sous Android. Les auteurs ont tenu compte des recherches récentes en matière de sciences de l'apprentissage: de nombreux schémas, images. Des annotations du code. Bravo ! Et merci...

This book is a great way to get a hands-on introduction to Android. If you are looking for a fast and practical way to get into the Android world, I definitely recommend it. If you are looking for more in-depth knowledge of Android this will not be the book for you.