Lessons list

This is a list of all available lessons. More are coming soon.

Lesson 0: How to create the first Android app (getting started)

In this lesson set we will install Android Studio to write an app code. And then we will create our  first, very simple Android app. Finally, we will check how this app is looking and working.

• Lesson 0.1: What you need to become Android app developer (all for free)
• Lesson 0.2: Notepad for Android developers – Eclipse or Android Studio (so called ADT, ADK, IDE or SDK)
• Lesson 0.3: Creating a new app (a new Android Studio project)
• Lesson 0.4: Basic information about structure of a project and Android Studio interface: what is what
• Lesson 0.5 Previewing app layout on various devices and screen sizes (without having them)
• Lesson 0.6: Running an Android app in a virtual phone or tablet
• Lesson 0.7: Running an Android app in a real device (but you don’t need any to create an app)
• Lesson 0.8: Additional information about project structure in Android Studio: java and resources folders
• Lesson 0.9: Android app life from onCreate to onDestroy – what happens when we start app (and what are “activities”)
• Lesson 0.10: Java basics – first contact with Java programming language (objects, classes, variables and methods)
• Lesson 0.11: Java basics – more about classes (inheritance and constructors)
• Lesson 0.12: Java basics – more about methods & variables (access modifiers public or private, getters and setters)

Lesson 1: How to display and format a text in Android apps

In this lessons set we will write and display some text in Android app.  And then we will make this text look as we wish.

• Lesson 1.1: My first app: More than Hello World! (TextView tag and android:text attribute)
• Lesson 1.2: Keeping text in a dedicated file (why and how to use strings.xml file in Android)
• Lesson 1.3: How to modify TextView in Java code (findViewById, setText and getText methods)
• Lesson 1.4: How to change a color of text and background in TextView?
• Lesson 1.5: How to color part of the text and use alpha channel in TextView?

Lesson 2: How to arrange layout of Android app? Examples of all layout types

There are a few defined layout types in Android, like LinearLayout, RelativeLayout or GridLayout. In this lesson we would go through all layout types and also use some advanced tricks to customize app design.

• Lesson 2.1: How to build Android app with simple, but powerful LinearLayout? Plus layout orientation as well as size and weight of elements
• Lesson 2.2: How to use margins and paddings in Android layout?
• Lesson 2.3: How to put layout into layout to create advanced app interface (layout tree in Android)?

Appendix list

Appendixes offer explanations of more general topics related to various lessons.

• Appendix A: Android XML syntax – structure of XML tags and attributes
  
• Appendix B: Everything about colors in Android
• Appendix C: Everything about sizes and dimensions in Android
• Appendix D: Comments in XML and Java – it’s crucial to create a documentation of Android app