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Title: Professional Android Application Development (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)
ISBN: 0470344717
Author:
Reto Meier
Publicate Date: 2008-11-24
Publish: 2008-11-24
List Price: $44.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $24.05
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $24.06
Amazon Merchant Price: $29.69
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Probably worth reading, just isn't fantastic
At its worst, this book is a copy and paste of the android docs already available online. At its best, it is a paraphrase of the android docs already available online, with additional insight and code samples.
The extra insight is enough for me to be glad I bought it - it occasionally gave just enough additional perspective beyond the android web docs to make things "click" that I had not yet fully grokked. The code samples are useful, but the author himself says that they are sprinkled with bad habits, and I agree. He explains that it was for the sake of simplicity. I think it's more likely that he wrote the code, then wrote the section on best practices, and then realized that the code was suboptimal but had to meet a deadline.
In summary, worth my money and my time, but not truly impressed.
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2: Required Entry Reading
I was struggling with Android documentation (there is a lot of it but can be improved a lot, although the Notepad examples are very good) trying to understand the programming concepts for G1. So I got this book on pre-order and it was worth waiting for. Plenty of examples, code snippets, very good and clean explanations. I like author's approach of taking an application (Earthquake) through a series of improvements, so you can learn it gradually, from simple to more complex (and sophisticated) approach.
It is hard to cover a massive SDK in 400 pages but it is enough to learn basics and then start digging with some understanding and confidence into the on-line documentation. I am recommending this book to anybody who wants to learn the principles of G1 platform programming. Great job Reto!
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3: Excellent introduction for new Android developers
The author clearly and concisely explains the fundamental aspects of Android programming. The coverage of Android topics is pretty comprehensive and the depth of coverage was just right for my needs. Mr. Meier provides some background information about mobile programming platforms in general, so the only real prerequisite for this book is familiarity with Java programming. The examples are also very informative and build new features incrementally, which keeps the focus on the most recently covered material, and reflects modern incremental development practices. This book, in conjunction with the excellent materials available online from Google, anddev.org and elsewhere, provide an effective staring point for developers looking to get started quickly on the Android platform.
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4: Absolutely essential
Although the online documentation for Android is very good, I much prefer to have a coherently written book that I can flip through for reference. In learning Android I have found Mr Meier's book to be absolutely invaluable. It is written from the point of view of a professional, working programmer and as such is it very readable.
Although the book covers all of the important aspects of Android and to a reasonable depth, I think it would be great to see some follow-up books from the same author that focus on particular aspects of Android (like UI or interprocess communication for example). A well-thumbed copy of this book is now on my desk at work (along with old cups of coffee and various other bits of clutter).
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