Víctor Caveda Blog » Training

Developing Android Apps with Java Part 2

caveda — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:42:50 +0000

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.

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Developing Android Applications with Java: Review

caveda — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:51:31 +0000

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!!

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Android Course: Week 1 – Homework

caveda — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:58:04 +0000

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

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The SANS Experience

caveda — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:30:44 +0000

Days ago I was reorganizing my photo-HD and I came across the pictures of my second visit to Prague. Memories immediately piled up! It was a couple of years ago in order to attend to a SANS Wireless Security training. Seven days of security knowledge overload shared with a number of great people from the Europe’s IT industry. To be completely honest, the best Czech beer was also present . Due to the tough timetable, I didn’t have a lot of time to take pictures but I’ve uploaded a few to my Picassa album.

Chances are, SANS course at Prague has been one of the best training experiences I’ve ever had. This kind of courses are pretty expensive but trust me, it totally worths every € you pay. Even if you don’t attend to any SANS course, a getaway to the beautiful Czech Capital is mandatory.

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