Learning Android Development - completed first book

Learning Android Development – completed first book

I’ve now finished working through my first book on Android Development – ‘Beginning Android Application Development’ by Wrox.

This book has given me a good introduction to Android development and I’d definitely recommend this book to those beginning Android Development. I really like the way its all based around coding examples, which all give working examples that you can run in the Android emulator, so you can see your coding at work straight away. If you then want to tweak the examples a little more you can and can see the effects straight away.

One slight issue was that the latest version of Android SDK is v4.x and the book is from the time of v2.3 so there are some issues when using the examples from the book. Using the Wrox P2P forums you can get answers to most issues and once I’d found a few problems early on I then knew how to get around them.

One main problem was the name of the application icon file – called icon in 2.3 but now ic_launcher – and there are other similar issues.

Next book to work through is ‘Android for Programmers’ – from the Deitel Developer Series. This book contains 16 fully coded Android apps, giving explanations of how various functionality has been achieved. Apps areas include – Twitter searches, slideshow, quiz, games, calculator, drawing, weather and pizza ordering(!)

We hired Pat to help with QA of a music streaming app. We needed someone with that magic “6th sense” of where the bugs are lurking; the ones which developers tend to miss. Pat more than fulfilled this need, with highly methodical approach and a great eye for detail.

Subsequently Pat has provided QA services for a personal app project of mine, finding a significant issue which had been lurking for some time.

Pat is a real asset to any team – highly competent technically but also easy going and a great guy to work with. Highly recommended!

Andrew Ebling, Head of App Development, Composed

Couldn’t recommend Pat highly enough. He goes beyond what you’d expect of a QA tester, commenting more broadly on user experience and even design. He’s quick, efficient and thorough – couldn’t ask for any more.

Rob Calvert, Director, Click

Pat came to Composed to respond to our (increasingly urgent) need of QA on mobile and web and I can testify he more than fulfilled the task. On the Android side, his very structured approach (first exploratory testing, then focus on defining test plans for a variety of scopes) and his clear knowledge of the latest mobile technologies have quickly paid off. He was involved directly with the developers (including myself) and this very dynamic relationship enabled us to annihilate bugs swiftly and efficiently.

David Ferrand, Android Developer, Composed

Pat Walsh fixed my site within hours of my contacting him – his WordPress website fix service clearly works!

Douglas Green, Douglas Software

Pat Walsh provided Kingston Valdes with a professional and personable service that was excellent value. The site was built and tested quickly, we are delighted with the results, and we have already had positive feedback from some of our clients. If you’re thinking of building a new site or adapting an existing one, I’d certainly recommend speaking with Pat about it.

Kathy Valdes, Kingston Valdes

Pat performs comprehensive website testing for us, across all the main browsers and platforms, including mobile devices. His flexible approach to testing and clear feedback enable us to have confidence that the business end of our website is still working smoothly after system updates and changes.

Steve Liu, Manager, Wicked Lasers

Pat has been absolutely incredible at testing each of our projects he works on. He’s very professional, organised and diligent. I look forward to using him again in the future.

Oliver Thurtle, Director of Technology, Drum

We’ve worked with Pat Walsh on a number of very different projects, from interactive video projects to mobile apps. His work is very thorough and has quickly become an essential and important phase of all the production work we do at Storythings. He’s thorough, diligent, and a pleasure to work with.

Matt Locke, Director, Storythings

Pat is an excellent one-stop-shop for testing Apps and Websites. He is a self-starter who just knows what needs to be done and gets on with it, and is responsive to requests for any specific testing requirements. He provides test plans and reports as a matter of course and was a pleasure to work with. I will definitely be working with Pat again if the opportunity arises.

Andrew Birley, PM, Storythings

Learning Android Development – completed first book

Learning Android Development – completed first book

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