7 Best Android Books to learn mobile app development

Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide is an introductory book for programming with Java experience. This book covers all major Android app component in great detail and also goes into networking, maps etc. This book focuses on practical techniques for developing apps compatible with all versions of Android widely used today. Each chapter and app have designed and tested to provide the knowledge and experience you need to get started in Android development. This book will help you to learn:

• Android programming basics and shares techniques for developing great Android applications.
• Latest features and enhancements to the Android Software Developer's Kit.
• How to use Android built-in features, such as messaging, telephony services and location-based services.
• Reviews Android hardware and much more.
• Performance analysis, security, custom views, and internationalization.

• Welcome App
• Cannon Game
• Tip Calculator
• Weather Viewer
• Flag Quiz
• Twitter^® Searches
• Doodlz
• Address Book

Practical, Example-Rich Coverage of:

• Android 6, Android Studio: Gradle™, Vector Asset Studio, Theme Editor
  
• Material Design App Templates and Themes
• AppCompat Library, Android Design Support Library, RecyclerView, FloatingActionButton, TextInputLayout
  
• Material Design Elevation and Icons
• REST Web Services/JSON, Threading, SQLite™ Database, Android 6 Permissions
  
• Cursors, Loaders, ContentProviders
• Supporting Various Screen Sizes/Resolutions
• Accessibility, Internationalization
  
• Activities, Fragments, Intents, Preferences
• GUIs, Layouts, Menus, Resource Files, Events, Touch/Gesture Processing, Images, Audio, Graphics, Animation
• Immersive Mode, PrintHelper
  
• Google Play™ Store, App Publishing, Pricing, Marketing, In-App Advertising, In-App Billing, Virtual Goods and more

This book presents leading-edge computing technologies for professional software developers. At the heart of the book is the Deitel app-driven approach–concepts are presented in the context of complete working Android apps, rather than using code snippets. The introduction and app test drives at the beginning of each chapter show one or more sample executions. The book’s source code is available at http://www.deitel.com/books/AndroidFP3.

The apps in this book were carefully designed to introduce you to key Android features and APIs. You’ll quickly learn everything you need to start building Android apps–beginning with a test-drive of the Tip Calculator app in Chapter 1, then building one new app in each of Chapters 2 through 9. By the time you reach Chapter 10, you’ll be ready to create your own apps for submission to Google Play and other app marketplaces. You’ll master the Google Play submission process, including uploading your apps. You’ll decide whether to sell your apps or offer them for free, and learn how to market them via social media and monetize them with in-app advertising, in-app billing, virtual goods and more.

Fully updated for Android 6, the goal of this book is to teach the skills necessary to develop Android based applications using the Android Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and the Android 6 Software Development Kit (SDK).

Beginning with the basics, this book provides an outline of the steps necessary to set up an Android development and testing environment. An overview of Android Studio is included covering areas such as tool windows, the code editor and the Designer tool. An introduction to the architecture of Android is followed by an in-depth look at the design of Android applications and user interfaces using the Android Studio environment. More advanced topics such as database management, content providers and intents are also covered, as are touch screen handling, gesture recognition, camera access and the playback and recording of both video and audio. This edition of the book also covers printing, transitions and cloud-based file storage.

The concepts of material design are also covered in detail, including the use of floating action buttons, Snackbars, tabbed interfaces, card views, navigation drawers and collapsing toolbars.

In addition to covering general Android development techniques, the book also includes Google Play specific topics such as implementing maps using the Google Maps Android API, in-app billing and submitting apps to the Google Play Developer Console.

Chapters also cover advanced features of Android Studio such as Gradle build configuration and the implementation of build variants to target multiple Android device types from a single project code base.

Assuming you already have some Java programming experience, are ready to download Android Studio and the Android SDK, have access to a Windows, Mac or Linux system and ideas for some apps to develop, you are ready to get started.

Over 100 recipes to help you solve the most common problems faced by Android Developers today

About This Book

• Find the answers to your common Android programming problems, from set up to security, to help you deliver better applications, faster
• Uncover the latest features of Android Marshmallow to make your applications stand out
• Get up to speed with Android Studio 1.4 - the first Android Studio based on the IntelliJ IDE from JetBrains

Who This Book Is For

If you are new to Android development and want to take a hands-on approach to learning the framework, or if you are an experienced developer in need of clear working code to solve the many challenges in Android development, you can benefit from this book. Either way, this is a resource you'll want to keep at your desk for a quick reference to solve new problems as you tackle more challenging projects.

What You Will Learn

• Along with Marshmallow, get hands-on working with Google's new Android Studio IDE
• Develop applications using the latest Android framework while maintaining backward-compatibility with the support library
• Master Android programming best practices from the recipes
• Create exciting and engaging applications using knowledge gained from recipes on graphics, animations, and multimedia
• Work through succinct steps on specifics that will help you complete your project faster
• Keep your app responsive (and prevent ANRs) with examples on the AsynchTask class
• Utilize Google Speech Recognition APIs for your app.
• Make use of Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) to create Push Notifications for your users
• Get a better understanding of the Android framework through detailed explanations

In Detail

The Android OS has the largest installation base of any operating system in the world; there has never been a better time to learn Android development to write your own applications, or to make your own contributions to the open source community!

This “cookbook” will make it easy for you to jump to a topic of interest and get what you need to implement the feature in your own application. If you are new to Android and learn best by “doing,” then this book will provide many topics of interest.

Starting with the basics of Android development, we move on to more advanced concepts, and we'll guide you through common tasks developers struggle to solve. The first few chapters cover the basics including Activities, Layouts, Widgets, and the Menu. From there, we cover fragments and data storage (including SQLite), device sensors, the camera, and GPS. Then we move on more advanced topics such as graphics and animation (including OpenGL), multi-threading with AsyncTask, and Internet functionality with Volley. We'll also demonstrate Google Maps and Google Cloud Messaging (also known as Push Notifications) using the Google API Library.

Finally, we'll take a look at several online services designed especially for Android development. Take your application big-time with full Internet web services without having to become a server admin by leveraging the power of Backend as a Service (BaaS) providers.

Style and approach

This book progresses from the fundamentals of Android Development to more advanced concepts, with recipes to solve the most common problems faced by developers. This cookbook makes it easy to jump to specific topics of interest, where you'll find simple steps to implement the solution and get a clear explanation of how it works.

Learn all the Java and Android skills you need to start making powerful mobile applications

About This Book

• Kick-start your Android programming career, or just have fun publishing apps to the Google Play marketplace
• A first-principles introduction to Java, via Android, which means you'll be able to start building your own applications from scratch
• Learn by example and build three real-world apps and over 40 mini apps throughout the book

Who This Book Is For

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 “to learn Android, you must know java.” If so, Android Programming for Beginners is for you. You don't need any programming experience to follow along with this book, just a computer and a sense of adventure.

What You Will Learn

• Master the fundamentals of coding Java for Android
• Install and set up your Android development environment
• Build functional user interfaces with the Android Studio visual designer
• Add user interaction, data captures, sound, and animation to your apps
• Manage your apps' data using the built-in Android SQLite database
• Find out about the design patterns used by professionals to make top-grade applications
• Build, deploy, and publish real Android applications to the Google Play marketplace

In Detail

Android is the most popular OS in the world. There are millions of devices accessing tens of thousands of applications. It is many people's entry point into the world of technology; it is an operating system for everyone. Despite this, the entry-fee to actually make Android applications is usually a computer science degree, or five years' worth of Java experience.

Android Programming for Beginners will be your companion to create Android applications from scratch―whether you're looking to start your programming career, make an application for work, be reintroduced to mobile development, or are just looking to program for fun. We will introduce you to all the fundamental concepts of programming in an Android context, from the Java basics to working with the Android API. All examples 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, make location-aware apps with Google Maps integration, and store your user's data with SQLite. In addition, you'll see how to make your apps multilingual, capture images from a device's camera, 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.

Style and approach

With more than 40 mini apps to code and run, Android Programming for Beginners is a hands-on guide to learning Android and Java. Each example application demonstrates a different aspect of Android programming. Alongside these mini apps, we push your abilities by building three larger applications to demonstrate Android application development in context.