5/10/2014 Resources every Android developer must know

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Resources every Android developer must know
By SERGEY POVZNER | Published: MARCH 20, 2013
As Android platform continues its incredible growth, more and more developers start
working on Android apps. If you are beginning Android development in 2013, you are a
lucky person, as the platform has greatly matured in the last few years. While the number
of available developer resources may seem overwhelming, this post points to the most
important ones.
This post may be useful for both beginners and moderately experienced Android
developers, as a single place where most useful resources are listed.
BOOKS
You may think that starting to learn a new development platform in 2013 by reading a book is old-
fashioned and you may be right. But you should still do it: see Programmers Dont Read Books But
You Should by Jeff Atwood.
I recommend these 2 books:
The Busy Coders Guide to Android Development by Mark Murphy. What makes this book
special is not only its depth of coverage (2000+ pages), but its frequent updates (~every 2
months). This is by far the best model for books on such rapidly evolving topic as Android SDK.
Mark Murphy also regularly holds office hours, where subscribers can ask questions. Book
samples are hosted on github. Highly recommended.
Smashing UI by Juhani Lehtimaki. An excellent book for any Android developer who cares about
great UI design.
DEVELOPER.ANDROID.COM
Before starting to write your first Android application, read and learn Android Design site by heart.
Specifically, these articles:
Devices and Displays
Touch Feedback
Metrics and Grids
Iconography
Also check out the Downloads section, which contains stencils, source files for icons and controls,
styled and unstyled Action Bar icons.
Ready to start coding? Sorry, keep reading:
Best Practices for User Experience & UI (a must read)
Best Practices for Performance
Displaying Bitmaps Efficiently
Adding Animations (also see NineOldAndroids library)
Tools help
SDK Samples
STACKOVERFLOW
A number of Android core framework engineers, developer advocates and expert Android developers
regularly answer questions on stackoverflow.com. Heres a list of top stackoverflow Android users. Im
subscribed to RSS answers feeds of many SO users; some of them are: CommonsWare (Mark
Murphy), Dianne Hackborn, Romain Guy, Reto Meier, Trevor Johns, Roman Nurik, Adam
Powell (thanks, @remdroid!).
BLOGS
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- Twitter
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To search, type and hit enter
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Resources every Android developer must know
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HOME ABOUT
5/10/2014 Resources every Android developer must know
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Many blogs provide great up to date information about Android development:
Android Dev Weekly by Gyuri Grell. An excellent weekly newsletter with the latest Android
development news. Highly recommended.
Official Android developers blog. Its worth browsing through this blogs archives, as some of the
posts are meaty, e.g.: Avoiding memory leaks, Memory Analysis for Android Applications.
Romain Guy. An excellent blog by key Android framework engineer. Once you are comfortable
with Android development, make sure to read Android Performance Case Study post. Off-topic:
Romain is also a great photographer.
Codependent by Chet Haase, creator of Android animation framework.
The CommonsBlog by Mark Murphy.
Cyril Mottiers Android dev blog. A fantastic resource with posts of great depth. Some of the
latest posts: ListView Tips & Tricks #5: Enlarged Touchable Areas, Tweeted Android
Development Tips, The Google Maps Android API V2 Utopia, Android App Launching Made
Gorgeous, Pull-to-refresh: An Anti UI Pattern on Android.
Styling Android by Mark Allison.
Coding Thoughts by Daniel Lew - great tips from one of the developers behind excellent
Expedias Hotels and Flights app (formely: Mobiata).
GOOGLE+
While Google+ has not become the social network, it is an invaluable source of information about
Android development. Some of the Google+ profiles you may consider to follow are: Tor
Norbye (ADT), Dianne Hackborn, Romain Guy, Chris Banes, Roman Nurik, Nick Butcher, Adam
Powell, Rich Hyndman, Cyril Mottier, Paul Burke, Jeff Gilfelt.
Make sure to follow Jake Wharton, the author of ActionBarSherlock, ViewPageIndicator,
NineOldAndroid, and many other open source Android libraries.
Also consider joining few of the Google+ communities:
Official Android dev community
Android designer community
OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS
Reading source code of well designed apps is always a good idea:
Google I/O Android app. If you like to copy/paste code, this is the place to copy from.
Photup by Chris Banes.
Android Protips: A Deep Dive Into Location by Reto Meier. Demonstrates use of location
detection, fragments, and BackupManager. Use with care, as this code has not been updated
for some time.
And, of course, the ultimate source: Android source code.
OPEN SOURCE LIBRARIES
Some of the most useful open source libraries:
ActionBarSherlock by Jake Wharton. Library for implementing the action bar design pattern
using the native action bar on Android 4.0+ and a custom implementation on pre-4.0 through a
single API and theme.
ViewPagerIndicator by Jake Wharton. Paging indicator widgets compatible with the ViewPager
from the Android Support Library and ActionBarSherlock. Originally based on Patrik kerfeldts
ViewFlow.
NineOldAndroids by Jake Wharton. Android library for using the Honeycomb animation API on all
versions of the platform back to 1.0.
Universal-Image-Loader by Sergey Tarasevich. Powerful and flexible instrument for
asynchronous image loading, caching and displaying.
UrlImageViewHelper by Koushik Dutta. UrlImageViewHelper fills an ImageView with an image that
is found at a URL and automatically downloads, saves, and caches all the bitmaps.
Android-BitmapCache by Chris Banes. A specialised cache, for use with Android Bitmap objects.
DiskLruCache by Jake Wharton. Java implementation of a Disk-based LRU cache which
specifically targets Android compatibility.
Search github for [android] projects to find more. Also, DevAppsDirect app is a great collection of
available open source custom views, widgets and libraries.
GOOGLE I/O TALKS
Gingerbread
Honeycomb
Ice Cream Sandwich
Jelly Bean
Nexus
iPhone
News
Reviews
Tips
Meta
Log in
5/10/2014 Resources every Android developer must know
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While it has become virtually impossible to get a Google I/O ticket, all Google I/O talks are available
online, usually with slides. Links to Google I/O Android sessions over the years: 2012, 2011,
2010, 2009.
Some of my favorite talks:
Advanced Design for Engineers by Alex Faaborg and Christian Robertson (2012)
For Butter or Worse: Smoothing Out Performance in Android UIs by Chet Haase, Romain Guy
(2012)
Navigation in Android by Adam Powell, Richard Fulcher (2012). If you happen to think that fixing
Android back/up buttons issues is easy, watch this humbling talk.
So Youve Read the Design Guide; Now What? by Daniel Lehmann, Tor Norbye, Richard Ngo
(2012)
Whats New in Android? by Chet Haase, Romain Guy, Daniel Sandler (2012)
Whats New in Android Developers Tools by Xavier Ducrohet, Tor Norbye (2012)
Memory management for Android Apps by Patrick Dubroy (2011)
Writing zippy Android apps by Brad Fitzpatrick (2010)
Developing Android REST client applications by Virgil Dobjanschi (2010)
PLEASE STOP, YOURE SCARING ME
If this post looks a bit overwhelming, dont despair. Some of the links above are useful only for
beginners, while others are useful for more advanced developers.
Few tips on how to efficiently consume this content:
First, read the books. Did I mention you should read the books? This will lay the proper
foundation of your Android knowledge.
Subscribe to blogs and stackoverflow answer feeds via RSS.
Set up an android-dev circle in Google+.
ANDROID SUPERSTARS
As Android developer ecosystem continues to flourish with contributions from many exceptionally
talented developers, special mentions should be reserved for two people who have been instrumental
in making lives of Android developers easier. They are: Mark Murphy and Jake Wharton.
Mark and Jake have earned an unlimited beer for life for making some of the most useful
contributions to Android open source. If you ever meet them, make sure to buy them a drink of their
choice. [correction: based on the comments below, Mark's beer should instead be directed to Chris
Bane. And if you read that far, you know that the best way to thank Mark would be a CommonsWare
subscription.]
Obviously, a lot of Android framework developers and designers at Google did a great job with
Android. A number of them is referenced in this post.
THE END, FINALLY
Thats it, folks. You now have all the information and tools to write some kick ass Android apps! Well,
not really: you still need a great Android UI designer, but that is a topic for another post. But you
should definitely be ready to write your first Android app.
If Ive missed any great resources, please let me know in the comments, as I plan to occasionally
update this post.
Happy coding!
5/10/2014 Resources every Android developer must know
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29 Comments
Mark Murphy
Posted March 20, 2013 at 1:37 pm | Permalink
Thanks for the kind words! Though, Ill pass on the beer.
Reply
Chris Banes
Posted March 20, 2013 at 1:59 pm | Permalink
Ill take any beers given to Mark
Reply
Juhani
Posted March 20, 2013 at 2:33 pm | Permalink
A very good list.
Also, thanks for the book mention
Reply
Sergey Povzner
Posted March 20, 2013 at 2:56 pm | Permalink
5/10/2014 Resources every Android developer must know
http://www.bongizmo.com/blog/android-resources-each-developer-should-know/ 5/9
Wow, what an honor to have such commenters :-).
@Mark, if you have any other favorite drinks, let me know and Ill update my instructions to closer
match your taste :-). Otherwise, as Chris suggested, well have to somehow set up a beer redirection
technique. Not trivial, as it will involve transatlantic transportation :-).
@Juhani: it was my pleasure and congrats on writing a great book!
Reply
Nathan Schwermann
Posted March 20, 2013 at 7:21 pm | Permalink
Mark sure helped me get off my feet, back when I read his books there were only about 1500 pages
combined
Reply
shiv agrahari
Posted March 20, 2013 at 10:48 pm | Permalink
so good
Reply
Jayshil Dave
Posted March 21, 2013 at 1:43 am | Permalink
Great Post. No matter however big round of applause is held for Mark and Jake, it will always be less.
Those two are people because of which Android development has become so easy.
Apart from the great exhaustive list above, there could be a mention of HoloEverywhere
(https://github.com/ChristopheVersieux/HoloEverywhere) should have a mention right along with
ActionbarSherlock
And if you are mentioning libraries Marks MergeAdapter should also be placed right up there.
Link: https://github.com/commonsguy/cwac-merge
Please keep this post updated it could very well be the go to point for quite a few developers in the
future.
Reply
Udinic
Posted March 21, 2013 at 12:32 pm | Permalink
Great post!
I may suggest my post about performance optimization I published about a month ago:
http://udinic.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/android-app-to-the-challenge/
It provides a step-by-step explanations about how to find performance issues on your app, using tools
that comes with the SDK, which I still find developers who never heard of them!
I also gave some tips from my own experience while developing Any.DO.
Reply
Sergey Povzner
Posted March 22, 2013 at 10:18 am | Permalink
@Jaushil, Udinic: thanks guys for the suggestions. Ill update this post with more links soon.
One area that definitely could be improved is the open source projects. If you know of any good
ones, please let me know in the comments.
5/10/2014 Resources every Android developer must know
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Reply
Marco Zehe
Posted March 25, 2013 at 6:01 am | Permalink
One great resource, although not a big one, is Henny Swans tutorial on how to make Android
applications accessible to TalkBack and other assistive technologies for the blind. One of the most
common problems with Android apps in general is the absence of contentDescription attributes on
ImageButton elements. This makes a huge difference to blind users of your applications! Theyre easy
to add, and they can mean the difference between fully useable and not useable at all for this group of
people.
Henny Swans tutorial can be found here: http://www.netmagazine.com/tutorials/making-android-apps-
voice-output-accessible
Reply
Jeff McAffee
Posted March 25, 2013 at 3:02 pm | Permalink
Dont forget the awesome tuts at vogella.com
Reply
somerandomguy
Posted March 25, 2013 at 3:42 pm | Permalink
Could also mention the IRC channel #android-dev on freenode.
Reply
dd
Posted April 4, 2013 at 8:30 am | Permalink
Thank you for this. Some suggestions if I may:
The link to The Commons Blog is broken, it should point to http://commonsware.com/blog/
You link to http://androiddevweekly.com/ , another very good one is http://androidweekly.net/
Reply
Philip Brown
Posted April 5, 2013 at 8:12 am | Permalink
How about Basic4Android (http://www.basic4ppc.com/) as a great resource for developing apps easily?
Reply
Matthew Johnson
Posted April 17, 2013 at 3:59 am | Permalink
Developing for Android is the place to be. You have a plethora how-to materials available, community of
developers willing to teach and even share code, and it costs noting to get started! You can use all open
source tools to develop your apps. Many Thanks to Google, Android communities, and all the Android
Developers out there building and sharing!
Reply
apu314 Blog Android
Posted April 25, 2013 at 8:35 am | Permalink
im an android developer an that is one of the best recopilations ive ever seen.
Good Work!
Reply
5/10/2014 Resources every Android developer must know
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Vladimir Richmond
Posted April 26, 2013 at 4:08 am | Permalink
This post is looks like encyclopedia of Android Application Development ! You have included references
for all thing which should taken in notice before starting development! And I completely agree with your
suggestion of Reading Books.
Reply
Jens Helweg
Posted April 30, 2013 at 3:01 am | Permalink
Thanks for sharing. Excellent article!
Reply
Brad
Posted May 16, 2013 at 7:35 am | Permalink
Hi thanks for taking the time to post this. I think its the most comprehensive list of resources for folks
like us that Ive ever seen. If we can ever help you with any Android programming or development issue,
send me an email at the address above.
Cheers
Brad
Reply
Nelsan Ellis
Posted June 11, 2013 at 11:45 pm | Permalink
When I saw the title of this article I had other expectations than what I read. I was expecting to see
some technical mistakes that developers do in development, like how properly to deal with threads,
background tasks, UI mistakes, and some code examples. Not really what I was looking for, but still a
good article to take in consideration, that makes you aware of some important points. Thanks,
Reply
Maurice Kindermann
Posted June 14, 2013 at 8:42 am | Permalink
Great article. Heres a UX comparison between Android and iOS standard widgets, with links to the
documentation on the relevant Apple / Android websites. Its a nice way to get started learning all the
technical terms.
http://kintek.com.au/blog/portkit-ux-metaphor-equivalents-for-ios-6-and-android-4/
Reply
laeeq
Posted August 2, 2013 at 12:29 am | Permalink
useful collection!
Reply
Mobile App Developer
Posted August 5, 2013 at 4:49 am | Permalink
Nice Article for those who really wants to make career as Android App Developer.
Cheers !
TanzaniteInfotech.Com
Reply
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Ndot Technologies
Posted August 28, 2013 at 5:22 am | Permalink
Really nice post. It really motivates a lot those who are interested in becoming as an Android app
developer.
Reply
Hani
Posted October 2, 2013 at 11:33 pm | Permalink
This is the most comperhensive list of resources every android developer should start his day with!
Thanks
Reply
Allison Tibbs
Posted October 6, 2013 at 3:12 pm | Permalink
This is a very comprehensive list for App Developers, I would like to add Lotaris in-appCommerce to the
list as a way for Android app developers to monetize their apps through in-app purchasing. For more
information, visit http://www.lotaris.com/android.
Reply
grow taller 4
Posted April 9, 2014 at 5:19 pm | Permalink
Hi there, Youve done an incredible job.
Ill certainly digg it and personally suggest to my
friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this web site.
Reply
venus factor weight
Posted May 3, 2014 at 10:06 pm | Permalink
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your
point.
You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to
your blog when you could be giving us something informative
to read?
Reply
Innomobileapps
Posted May 8, 2014 at 5:24 am | Permalink
Thanks for share great post, but Anyone who is familiar with the default Android Emulator will know that
starting the emulator and running an app can be an extremely slow and tedious process.
Reply
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