In the Library with Android Programming for Beginners

After a week of a coughing and dying, I am back. I figured nothing says back like a book review. This weeks book was one that I just wrapped up. It is a long and detailed journey of an Android book. So far it has been my favorite. It is Android Programming for Beginners.

What’s so good about Android Programming for Beginners?

While most of the books think the reader has a grasp on programming, Android Programming for Beginners does not. If you have a solid grasp of Java than the first half or so of the book would be a waste of time. However for Java lightweights like me, it gave me some desperately needed reinforcement. From start to finish the examples are detailed and numerous. The author really did a great job. It was a fun read and stuffed with technical goodness.

So that’s the good. What’s the bad and the ugly?

Well, like most books I read, I am a little late to reading it. Google like to deprecate things so some of the examples are no longer the way to do things. It happens and it happens a lot with Android that the way to do things is not the correct way. I was working on a project recently where the Google documentation itself was out of date. It has been a while but I think it was on the wake lock section that the alternative solution was itself deprecated.

Getting back on topic, if you are not a beginner with Android, then this book could hurt. It is nearly 700 pages. It starts from the very beginning. I will say that of the 4 or so Android books I have read, I wish this was the one I started with because it is that freaking good.

On a unrelated note.

Despite being sick I did achieve several goals on this frosty February week.

Site News

Well, I have the SSL certs are in and running. My sites performance sucks. I have stuck a new caching plugin on in the hopes of mitigating it. With the SSL set, I am digging through the post for http links to change to https. I wish somebody had told me about this before I started. It’s freaking annoying. Because everything is so slow, it is murder on hunting the http links I need to change. I will also start tweaking the cache app to see if we can get this puppy running.

Projects

Finally, I have started yet another project. I have a big Ruby on Rails prospect so the cramming of the Ruby on Rails has started. Ruby on Rails within Windows sucks. You can really tell the Linux Nazis rule the Ruby on Rails community with an iron fist. I also knocked out my first Deep Learning book and am half way through a book on Unit Testing. Improving on that topic has been on my list for a while. Finally, I am hoping to get some time open to do my first app. I think I want to do it in a week.

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