The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development Version 8.1 Released

Subscribers now have access to the latest release of The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development, known as Version 8.1, in all formats. Just log into your Warescription page and download away, or set up an account and subscribe!

This time around, I:

• Added a new chapter on the basic steps for writing Gradle plugins

• Added a new chapter on compile-time code generation, by means of a Gradle plugin and Square’s JavaPoet

• Added a new chapter on updating your app’s code dynamically, as a counterpart to updating the app’s code by publishing a new APK

• Added a new chapter on Android 7.1’s app shortcuts, both the static kind (which can be used by pre-7.1 home screens) and the dynamic kind

• Added a new chapter on Java 8 lambda expressions, enabled via the Jack compiler

• Added a new section to the RecyclerView chapter on using DiffUtil to identify and animate changes to the contents of a RecyclerView

• Overhauled the chapter on NetCipher

• Added a bit more material on ConstraintLayout

• Made other minor improvements and errata fixes

Also, the APK edition of the book has a new appinar on drag-and-drop.

Barring some major code drop from Google here in the waning weeks of 2016, this is the eighth and final update for this year, adding about 500 pages of material, along with the first 24 appinars.

The next update is tentatively scheduled for early January 2017.