How This Book Is Organized

This book is divided into two major parts: a “Hello, World” walk-through and “deeper dives” into major Android app development topics.

“Hello, World!”, Front to Back

For decades, the classic first program for a person in a given programming environment is dubbed “hello, world”.

In a typical programming environment, a “hello, world!” app is usually trivial, offering little to learn from.

Android is complicated, which makes even “hello, world!” a place to learn all sorts of things, from how user interfaces get constructed, to how our tools work, to how the tools know how to build that app and show us that user interface.

So, in the first several chapters, we will examine various facets of a “hello, world!” app generated from Android Studio’s new-project wizard.

Deeper Dives

Of course, a “hello, world!” app is very shallow. You will not get very far in Android app development if all you know is what “hello, world!” shows you.

So, after the tour of the “hello, world!” app, we will expand upon the concepts seen there, exploring different aspects of Android app development. We will not cover everything in Android — that would take thousands upon thousands of pages. This book will give you a basic foundation for Android app development and will help point you to places to learn other facets of what Android apps can do.