Head First Android Development: A Brain-Friendly Guide 1st Edition

For the company I work for I was tasked to write an Android application. I had no mobile experience at all and since we use C# we went with Xamarin to build the app. I did the typical "look on the Internet" for training videos and articles to learn what I needed to learn. Within a handful months, version 1.0 of the app was done and published.I don't typically like to go out and get books since doing so can drag on and on and you spend a lot of extra time getting "up to speed". But, I knew I blew through a bunch of stuff getting the app ready and there was more to learn. I then began to look at various Android development books to go back and pick up on stuff I didn't fully grasp. With knowing what I learned on my own and looking at this book's list of chapters and the details of the chapters "out there in the open" in the table of contents (which makes referencing easy when going back to find something), it appeared this book was well laid out and hit the most important topics. Plus, reading through some of the topics in the book I had learned on my own, I liked the way things were explained.I'm only about half-way through but here's what I like about the book: 1) Simple and to the point 2) Not the typical page after page of text. I'm visual when learning. There are lots of diagrams and charts and such. 3) The "dumb questions" sections which actually tend to reflect the "dumb questions" I have when I reach those sections. 4) Chapter summaries which pretty much hit everything covered in the chapter. 5) Space to write your own notes (the notes they include also are pretty spot on) 6) Examples (and I mean good examples) that refer you back to earlier examples in the book, but spell it out again for you right there instead of saying "please go back and re-learn this part". This may add a few pages to the book but when you are learning, having to switch back and forth and fit the pieces together seems to break up the learning process. This books basically says "here is what we did back in chapter X and here it is again".I am very pleased with this book so far. It may not cover all the intricate details in depth of Android development, but I highly recommend it if you are new to it. Plus, adding EVERYTHING to a "welcome to Android" book would just make the learning process hard. This book seems to cover a vast majority of what we need to know to get things done. It has some sections in the end to give an intro to some more technical details plus a list of things not covered in the book to give clues on what else is out there, with links to get you started. It would seem this book gives a very good foundation to build from.

I'm almost finished with my second read of this new Head First book. It's an excellent introduction. Like the HF Design Patterns book, there is something about the detailed approach to conveying complex information that really does the job. It's engaging and progresses with those little steps, repeatedly, to drive home essential Android skills. I've been programming in Java for over a year, have taken four OOP courses, including Java, in college, and have read many books on Java and related topics. This works. It is not cartoonish by any means and a great first step; highly detailed, with arrows and explanations that leave no (beginner) stone unturned. Android programming is not that easy, to my surprise. But beware: you better know your Java.

Great book so far!!! I was looking for a good android development book for beginners. I tried a couple other books but this book is fun to read with a lot of fun examples and antidotes. The book has several projects that you build and learn using Android Studio. I was concerned that this book may be dated and not usable with the current Android Studio but it has worked out fine. I have gone through the first 4 chapters and I already have a better understanding of Android programming and has started on my own simple app. I only gave it four stars because I have not completed the book.

The visual diagrams really aided comprehension. I recently completed an Android bootcamp which was very good but moved very quickly through new concepts, so I found myself needing another resource to fill in any gaps. This book became a reliable backup whenever concepts weren't explained effectively in the bootcamp lectures. Stack overflow is great but it can be hard for beginners to understand a lot of posts due to limited knowledge and no familiarity with programming jargon. This book breaks things down very slowly and methodically which is exactly what beginners need.

I followed this book all the way through, from start to finish, as an independent study for college. The book is laid out in a way that's supposed to be fun and engaging, but I found it to look a little chaotic and it was distracting - just personal preference, and I did not deduct stars for that! If you have used other Head First books and liked them, then you will probably be just fine with this one, as it's in keeping with the others.What I did deduct stars for is the fact that there are errors in this book that will result in your code not running. If it had not been for the author putting code up on their GitHub page, it would have been a real headache! I understand there's a new edition coming out in summer of 2017, so I would recommend anyone wanting to purchase it hold out for the new version, and hopefully the errors will have been fixed!

This book is excellent to learn Android Programming if you are a novice with Android Programming. There is plenty lab work where you actually learn how to write Android Programs. Doing the lab work is critical to learning the programming. Don't avoid it. This book is well organized and well written. For the next book after reading this, try "Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide 2nd edition" You won't be sorry. I signed up for Lynda.com courses in Android programming. They were good. But both these books are better.

Head First gets you passionate into the boring world of computer programing with graphical story telling. It atleast keeps you alert and interested in an otherwise abstract concepts. We are more visual than imaginative, I will hope you become more imaginative and as well visual to really benefit from this book. This book takes you one step at a time and walks you through the dark alleys of Android programing; explaining every step you take and why you took that step. It helps a great deal to have some Java knowledge as a pre-requisite. I love this book.