van Drongelen - Android Studio cookbook

Mike van Drongelen started developing software from the very first moment he had access to a computer. At the age of nine, he started programming in an obscure Basic variant. Currently, he works as a mobile solution consultant in the Netherlands. Besides this, he also runs his own start-up. He speaks English, Dutch, German, and a little French, but most of the time, he speaks Java, JavaScript, HTML, Objective C, Swift, C#, and ASP.NET. He develops Android, iOS, and .NET solutions for various customers and has some projects of his own. One of his projects is an e-learning solution called TeamSpot. Another one is Finiware, which is a company developing B2B specific solutions.

Creating better software using less code is what he is aiming for, which explains why he is interested in the lean start up methodology. In addition to this, he is interested in technology and topics such as continuous delivery, Test-driven development, and Behaviour Driven Development.

About these and other mobile related topics you can read his blog on www.mikevandrongelen.info. When he is not developing, he likes to go on trips on his motorbike or with his 2 CV.

You can find out more about his companiesMiker Works (www.mikerworks.nl), Finiware (www.finiware.nl), and TeamSpot (www.teamspot.nl)on the Internet.

First of all, I would like to thank my wife, Lan Nguyen, for her support, and to Wim Wepster, who has been kind enough to create the front cover image in a material design style.

Also, I would like to thank the reviewers for their comments, and all the people at Packt Publishing who were involved in the creation of this book.

Finally, I would like to thank you for reading this book. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as did writing it.

Aliaksandr Zhukovich is a software enthusiast with a passion for technology and has more than four years of experience in professional software development. He has developed and designed software solutions for different areas. He graduated from College Business and Law and Baranovichi State University as a software developer.

He has already worked for multinational companies, such as Ericpol, as as Software developer and has worked with Java, C++, TTCN, and Android technologies. Currently, he works for TomTom as a mobile software engineer and works for a cross-platform Navigation Engine.

Ankit Garg works as a mobile engineer at AOL. He works in the Product Research and Development team and has about five years of experience in developing mobile applications. He is really passionate about making user-friendly mobile apps.

Nico Kchler lives in Berlin, Germany. He did an apprenticeship as a mathematical-technical software developer. He has worked for the gambling industry and as an online shop provider.

Since he last few years, he is working at Deutsche Post E-POST Development GmbH within the scope of Android app development.

He has also reviewed Testing and Securing Android Studio Applications for packt.

He is maintaining a project which provide a fast start with test driven Android app development https://github.com/nenick/android-gradle-template.

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Preface

Android Studio is the best IDE for developing Android apps, and it is available for free to anyone who wants to develop professional Android apps.

Now with Android Studio, we have a stable and faster IDE, and it comes with a lot of cool stuff such as Gradle, better refactoring methods, and a much better layout editor. If you have used Eclipse, then you will love this IDE.

In short, Android Studio has really brought back the fun of mobile development, and in this book, we will see how.

What this book covers

, Welcome to Android Studio , demonstrates how to configure Android Studio and Genymotion, which is a really fast emulator.

, Applications with a Cloud-based Backend , explains how to use Parse to develop an app using a cloud-based backend in no time.

, Material Design , explains the concept of material design and how to implement it using RecycleViews, CardViews, and transitions.