It’s been six weeks waiting for the Nexus One and finally it’s here. The N1 runs smoothly and fast a Cyanogen ROM. Even though I’m using the same 3G connection (vodafone ES), now browsing the web is a delightful experience compared with HTC Magic. The battery lasts almost a couple of days with a normal use (email, web, rss, etc).
The parcel didn’t include any sort of manual except a couple of sheets with tips and tricks.
It’s been six weeks waiting for the Nexus One and finally it’s here. The phone runs smooth and fast even using the same 3G connection (vodafone ES), now browsing the web is a delightful experience compared with HTC Magic. The battery lasts almost a couple of days running a Cyanogen ROM.
The parcel didn’t include any manual except a couple of sheets explaining tips and tricks. Here you can see some pictures.
It’s been announced the second part of the course “Developing Android Apps with Java” by O’Reilly. It will start in May 18th and it’s going to consist of six sessions in which a Twitter client app for Android will be developed. Interested? You can register for free at the course home page. No excuses to learn Android Programming
I wrote a review of the first part of the course in this post.
Regarding books, one of the things I appreciate the most is an honest relationship between title and contents. Unfortunately it’s quite common to find books out there promising things they don’t fullfill.
“Hello, Android” meets perfectly the commitment of its title. Don’t buy it expecting a reference manual of Android because it’ just an introduction to this platform, and I must admit that it does the work gracefully. It’s quick and brief so it tells you the essential and gives you resources for further research such as the sample projects that can be free downloaded from the book website. A nice aspect to highlight is the hands-on approach, throughout the book concepts are illustrated with lots of code. Furthermore a Sudoku game is parcially developed during a couple of chapters.
So I basically recommend this book for beginners mainly for two reasons:
Starts from the Scratch: Nothing is assumed so it’s a good point to start out as Android developer.
Brevity: I don’t have time for an eight-hundred-pages book to start to develop. I’ll deal with the ins and outs as I go, not before.
Of course, like any book about Android, Java (or C++, C#, etc) basic understanding is recommended.
The course “Developing Android Applications with Java” I was attending, has finished. It’s been six session (12 hours) of Android developing. One of the things I like was the hands-on approach of the trainning, actually 80% of sessions duration was developing time which helps me a lot with the environment Eclipse (I was used to Visual Studio).The level of this course was Beginner so the first sessions was basically dedicated to prepare the environment. After that, the next sessions (five) focused on explaining the foremost aspects of Android Programming while a Task Manager application was developed. The covered areas included:
Activities.
Basic Interface
Database (SQLite)
Location and Google Maps API.
You could take a look at the contents table in the course page. By the way, the course was given by Tony Hillerson. You can check out his profile here.
In a nutshell:
Pros:
Completely free.
Hands-on approach. Most of the time developing the “Task Manager” sample project let the audience get down to the nitty-gritty.
Publishing the source code of each session in advance. It helps to focus on Tony’s lessons.
Really good organization. And it wasn’t easy: live audience in Seattle, instructor in Denver and a number of online attendees. Actually, it was possible to ask questions to Tony (thanks to Ruth and Beth).In short, O’Reilly and CreativeTechs did a great work.
A forum was set up for posting homework, technical questions and all that stuff.
Cons:
A tiny thing. I missed one hour of the last session because the Daylight Saving Time in US starts two weeks before Europe. Course Organizers could have warned online attendees about it.
In Short:
I’d do it again so I recommend it. Five out of Five.
Update (03/20/2010)
Good news! I’ve received an email from O’Reilly with a couple of great announcements:
It’s gonna be a second part of the course this Spring.
They are giving free phones (Motorola DROID or Nexus One phone) to attendees who meet some conditions (take a look at the terms of the registration page for further information).
Update (03/23/2010)
Another email from O’Reilly telling that I’ll receive a free phone (hopefully a Nexus One) from Google for attending this Android Course. I just can say: THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
I know it’s pretty straightforward but I haven’t found any example out there of using the clipboard from Android Applications. So for beginners like me, here is an example of how to copy and paste some text using ClipboardManager object.
This is the Copy button code:
// Copy EditCopy text to the ClipBoard private voidcopyToClipBoard()
{
ClipboardManager ClipMan = (ClipboardManager) getSystemService(Context.CLIPBOARD_SERVICE);
ClipMan.setText(editCopy.getText());
}
and the Paste button source:
// Paste ClipBoard Text to EditPaste private void pasteFromClipBoard()
{
ClipboardManager ClipMan = (ClipboardManager) getSystemService(Context.CLIPBOARD_SERVICE); editPaste.setText(ClipMan.getText());
}
Simple, right? By the way, editPaste and editCopy are both EditText class objects. In case you need it, the whole project can be downloaded from my GitHub repository.
People from O’Reilly and CreativeTechs are doing a great work. Now, they have created a Forum where students of Android Course can post their stuff. Furthermore, a tiny application’s been assigned as homework so we can practice our Android programming skills. So here’s mine:
You can check out the source code and download de APK visiting my GitHub repository. Feedback will be appreciated
A couple of weeks arguing with Vodafone and I’ve finally had my new Android phone for few €. Even though I’m used to Windows Mobile OS; Android has made a good impression on me. After reading the documentation and developing some examples, I’ve found Android’s Arquitecture pretty straighforward and plenty of possibilities from a security perspective.
Since I wanted more, I signed up for this O’Reilly Training Course. For the time being I’ve attended (online) the first day (consists of five) and it’s being pretty useful. So if you’re interested, you’re still on time to sign up here for the remaining sessions. It’s free.
Duke Nukem Forever has been one of the most expected games ever. As every geek knows, it’s been by far the most infamous case of Vaporware as well. Many lessons can be taken from the story of the project and how the 3D Realms people managed it. In fact, I sincerely believe this story must be taught in every single Software Engineering Course as an example of unbounded ambition and perfectionism.
Even though 3D Realms was a highly talented and groundbreaking developer company, when it comes to the Duke Nukem Forever, they totally failed. Actually, they coined the dreadful sentence: “It’ll be done when it’s done” which represents the principle that drove this neverending project. It worths reading the whole story that has been told in a splendid article published by Wired Magazine:
Tengo por costumbre de leer de cuando en cuando algún libro científico que no tiene nada que ver con aquello que me da de comer. Creo que es bueno saber bastante de una materia (básicamente para poder comer de ella) pero también hay que conocer un poco de todo lo demás. En este caso me ha parecido que no era mala idea saber algo del Estrés que todos mejor o peor sobrellevamos. Aunque parece haber miles de libros sobre el asunto en cuestión, fue fácil encontrar el libro adecuado porque no me interesaba un manual de autoayuda sino algo que explicase el porqué desde el punto de vista físico… y de estos últimos hay pocos.
Principalmente este libro se divide en dos partes: por un lado se explican las causas y consecuencias fisiológicas del estrés en lo relativo a las diferentes funciones del cuerpo (circulación, digestión, sexo, memoria, sueño, etc) para finalmente tratar los factores psicológicos y socioeconómicos. Este último muy interesante explicando la relación entre estrés y desigualdades económicas, exponiendo que no sólo ser pobre es un factor estresante (quizás el mayor de todos) sino también sentirse como tal. El libro se remata con un capítulo dedicado a las estrategias de control y mitigación del estrés…sin recetas mágicas pero científicamente demostradas.
Uno de los aspectos más memorables es el estilo divulgativo e informal del Robert Sapolsky. Se menciona una gran cantidad de estudios citados (y explicados con sorprendente sencillez) que avalan cada una de las afirmaciones, lo cual es más o menos normal en cualquier ensayo científico…pero lo novedoso es que cuando las cosas no están claras, también se explica por qué no están claras. Para alguien no-científico como yo, hay que decir que las 500 págs. se hacen duras por momentos (debido a toda la terminología científica: hormonas, neurotransmisores, receptores, etc) pero sólo por momentos porque es casi siempre interesante y está aderezado con partes hilarantes (por ejemplo las dedicadas a los babuinos).
Tras su lectura, realmente uno llega a entender la razón de que alguna decisión importante te altere el sueño o el apetito, mientras que irte a correr media hora por el parque o una cerveza con los amigos te haga olvidarte por completo de un estresante día de trabajo.
Hello, Android
¿Por qué las cebras no tienen úlcera?
