Android for developers. Perplexed and upset
Some time ago, I wrote an article “We eliminate the gaps, learn Android” , making a review of one book. Readers in the letters asked to continue this topic, since I read everything.
This time I will go through the last book released on the Russian market at the moment - Android for developers in 2015.
This is the second edition, issued by the publishing house "Peter". The first edition had a slightly different name - Android for programmers. We create applications and came out in 2013. I quote dates for Russia; they are a year behind foreign publications.
Initially, I did not intend to buy the second edition, as a quick review of the content showed that nothing new appeared in principle. But when the publishing house on Habré arranged the action with discount prices, he could not resist and bought the book in electronic form. We assume that I decided to support them with the ruble. Moreover, I believe that Peter has remained the only publishing house in Russia that is trying to produce good books by modern foreign authors.
')
Therefore, all my complaints will not be related to the publishing house (they honestly did their work), but to the authors.
Go.
When I began to read a book, I did not notice the trick at first. I got to the project to create a quiz with flags. By the way, a good example. I just wrote my quiz in my time and then compared my code with the code from the first edition. And got some ideas from the book. So, when I just read an already familiar example, I noticed that 2/3 of the book had already been read.
Surprised at my reading speed, I decided to check the output of the books. The first edition is 560 pages, the second edition is 384 pages. A unique case. Usually, books swell from publication to publication, acquiring new chapters about new technologies.
I had to compare the content - there were no some projects in the new edition.
In parentheses, I brought some technologies used in projects. Agree that the topics are interesting to learn. And now they are not. I understand the reason why these chapters were cut out. For example, in the project Route Tracker, MapActivity, which has long been inactive, was used. But what prevented the authors from remaking their outdated examples and at the same time telling how they modernized their projects in view of the new requirements.
The second edition mentions Android Studio. Alas, this is just a marketer trick. Yes, the book tells you where to download the studio and how to install it. This description of Android Studio actually ends.
The quality of the materials - everything is subjective. In my opinion, for novice programmers the book is not very suitable. Yes, the reader can blindly copy the text - but in fact it is the work of a monkey. They say in theory a few monkeys ever write "War and Peace." One monkey reader will rewrite 5-6 projects and, perhaps, they will even earn. But will the reader understand their actions? Personally, I don’t really like this approach when the author of the project writes his project completely, and then simply retells the reader what he sees in his project. But this does not happen even in a pre-planned project. And here it turns out that the author tells how the fragment method is invoked in the activity class, which has not even been created yet. But he has already created a fragment, so he does not see the problem. The lack of consistency in the actions of the programmer-author does not contribute to the understanding of the material.
If the developer already has some training, then it will be easier to understand the examples. Can be used as a reference to refresh your memory.
Taking into account the fact that the book was again released late - there is nothing in it about the new Material Design, almost nothing is said about Android Studio, many chapters were cut down - we come to the conclusion that the book was weak. Very sorry. I expected more.
Finally, I would like to turn to those who read foreign books - what new items have you liked lately?
This time I will go through the last book released on the Russian market at the moment - Android for developers in 2015.
This is the second edition, issued by the publishing house "Peter". The first edition had a slightly different name - Android for programmers. We create applications and came out in 2013. I quote dates for Russia; they are a year behind foreign publications.
Initially, I did not intend to buy the second edition, as a quick review of the content showed that nothing new appeared in principle. But when the publishing house on Habré arranged the action with discount prices, he could not resist and bought the book in electronic form. We assume that I decided to support them with the ruble. Moreover, I believe that Peter has remained the only publishing house in Russia that is trying to produce good books by modern foreign authors.
')
Therefore, all my complaints will not be related to the publishing house (they honestly did their work), but to the authors.
Go.
When I began to read a book, I did not notice the trick at first. I got to the project to create a quiz with flags. By the way, a good example. I just wrote my quiz in my time and then compared my code with the code from the first edition. And got some ideas from the book. So, when I just read an already familiar example, I noticed that 2/3 of the book had already been read.
Surprised at my reading speed, I decided to check the output of the books. The first edition is 560 pages, the second edition is 384 pages. A unique case. Usually, books swell from publication to publication, acquiring new chapters about new technologies.
I had to compare the content - there were no some projects in the new edition.
- SpotOn - a game in which you have to push your enemies to speed (ViewPropertyAnimator, Custom View)
- Route Tracker - location tracking, (GPS, Google Map)
- SlideShow - Slideshow (Galery, Media, Content Provider)
- Enhanced SlideShow - advanced slideshow (Camera, VideoView)
- Weather Viewer - weather forecast received from the server (JSON, ListFragment, DialogFragment)
In parentheses, I brought some technologies used in projects. Agree that the topics are interesting to learn. And now they are not. I understand the reason why these chapters were cut out. For example, in the project Route Tracker, MapActivity, which has long been inactive, was used. But what prevented the authors from remaking their outdated examples and at the same time telling how they modernized their projects in view of the new requirements.
The second edition mentions Android Studio. Alas, this is just a marketer trick. Yes, the book tells you where to download the studio and how to install it. This description of Android Studio actually ends.
The quality of the materials - everything is subjective. In my opinion, for novice programmers the book is not very suitable. Yes, the reader can blindly copy the text - but in fact it is the work of a monkey. They say in theory a few monkeys ever write "War and Peace." One monkey reader will rewrite 5-6 projects and, perhaps, they will even earn. But will the reader understand their actions? Personally, I don’t really like this approach when the author of the project writes his project completely, and then simply retells the reader what he sees in his project. But this does not happen even in a pre-planned project. And here it turns out that the author tells how the fragment method is invoked in the activity class, which has not even been created yet. But he has already created a fragment, so he does not see the problem. The lack of consistency in the actions of the programmer-author does not contribute to the understanding of the material.
If the developer already has some training, then it will be easier to understand the examples. Can be used as a reference to refresh your memory.
Taking into account the fact that the book was again released late - there is nothing in it about the new Material Design, almost nothing is said about Android Studio, many chapters were cut down - we come to the conclusion that the book was weak. Very sorry. I expected more.
Finally, I would like to turn to those who read foreign books - what new items have you liked lately?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/254149/
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