Hellman - Android Programming

This edition first published 2014

2014 Erik Hellman

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ISBN 978-1-118-71737-0 (paperback); ISBN 978-1-118-71730-1 (ePDF); 978-1-118-71735-6 (ePub)

Set in 9.5 pt Myriad Pro by Indianapolis Composition Services

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my amazing dad, Ingemar Hellman, who taught me programming when I was nine years old. None of this would have been possible if it werent for all the amazing things he taught me.

Erik Hellman, Second generation software developer

Publishers Acknowledgements

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Editorial and Production

VP Consumer and Technology Publishing Director: Michelle Leete

Associate DirectorBook Content Management: Martin Tribe

Associate Publisher: Chris Webb

Project Editor: M. Faunette Johnston

Copy Editor: Melba Hopper

Technical Editor: Erik Westenius

Editorial Manager: Jodi Jensen

Senior Project Editor: Sara Shlaer

Editorial Assistant: Annie Sullivan

Marketing

Associate Marketing Director: Louise Breinholt

Marketing Manager: Lorna Mein

Senior Marketing Executive: Kate Parrett

Marketing Assistant: Polly Thomas

Composition Services

Compositor: Jennifer Goldsmith, Andrea Hornberger

Proofreader: Wordsmith Editorial

Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC

About the Author

Erik Hellman grew up in the small town of Borlnge in the middle of Sweden and currently lives in the city of Malm with his wife. From an early age he showed a great interest in all kinds of technology, much thanks to his father. This interest has carried on over the years and he likes to spend time tinkering with all kinds of technology, be it hardware or software.

Erik currently works as a developer consultant at Factor10. He previously worked for Sony Mobile as one of the lead architects for their Android development and later as a research engineer where he participated in the development of the next generation of mobile solutions from Sony.

Erik has a lifetime of experience with software development and programming. His father taught him how to write code in Turbo Pascal at the age of nine, as well as how to design relational databases in Oracle 3 on his old IBM AT 286. Much later, Erik studied Software Engineering at Blekinge Institute of Technology where he also worked as an assistant teacher in various software engineering courses.

Erik can often be found at various developer conferences where he likes to speak about cutting-edge software technologies. You can also find out more about Erik and his other hobbies at his blog (http://blog.hellsoft.se) or follow him on Google+ (http://gplus.to/ErikHellman) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ErikHellman).

Acknowledgements

First of all, Id like to thank my wife Kaisa-Leena. Without her love, support, and infinite patience with me during the writing of this book, this book would never have been finished.

A big thank you goes out to all my friends and former colleagues at Sony Mobile. Almost everything Ive learned about Android and mobile technologies came from my years working with all of you. Im extremely proud to have been part of the team that built the Xperia series of devices. A special thank you to my former boss, Henrik Bengtsson, and his team at the Sony Mobile Research in Lund.

Finally, Id like to thank my editors; Faunette, Melba, Erik, and all the people working at Wiley for helping me write this book. A big thanks goes to my technical editor Erik Westenius for his eye for details and making sure that my code and examples are understandable. Also, a thank you to Kristoffer berg at Sony Mobile for giving me valuable input on the UI design sections.