Three thoughts for Android fans based on I / O 2015
In this article, I want to share with the community three thoughts based on the Google I / O 2015, which, in my opinion, can be very useful for all Android fans this year.
I know that many developers and designers continue to think in terms of "Android has no guidelines." Stop it! They are, they are cool, and their name is Material Design.
')
On Google I / O, everything possible was done to ensure that each of the participants plunged into the world of Material Design and gained all the necessary knowledge to create cool applications in the spirit of Material. It is interesting to note that this year the conference itself was decorated in the style of Material! In addition to reports and discussions, anyone could visit a special material station and create a paper prototype of their application using the necessary funds for creativity.
The key announcements of the conference were:
(Experts help conference participants in comprehending the Material Design philosophy)
40% of applications published on Google Play over the past year, made in the style of Material Design. If your application does not yet support Material Design, your chances of falling out of favor with users are growing rapidly with each passing day. And vice versa, even if your idea has a competitor, but it is made in the old style, you can make a successful attack on its position due to the support of Material Design. In addition, the development of applications in the style of Material Design takes less time and is easy to scale between different Android devices (from smartphone to car).
If you still do not feel yourself an expert in Material Design, then I highly advise you to take the time to sort out the topic!
More on the topic:
In my opinion, automated testing is the most interesting topic of the current year. Historically, autotests are a sore subject for mobile developers, and on Android we really had nothing to boast about before. The situation began to change 2-3 years ago, when in addition to the popular, but unreliable Android Instrumentation Framework and Robotium, Robolectric and Espresso appeared. You can find out more about the features and features of these tools in my report “Automatic testing of Android applications with love” from MBLTDev 2014.
The key announcements of the conference were:
If you are developing large and complex Android projects, but do not write tests for them, then, in my opinion, 2015 is the best time to start doing this. Today we have Espresso and Android Testing Support Library, there is a special team at Google, which is actively involved in their development and is happy to help developers learn new tools. Also, very soon everyone will have access to the Cloud Test Lab (within the Google Play Developer Console).
There are already ready solutions, they are made at a fairly good level, now it is up to you. More tests, good and different!
(if you know at least three people in the photo, then you are in the subject of testing for Android)
More on the topic:
In my opinion, Google perfectly knows how to organize communities around its products and technologies. Three communities — Google Developer Experts (GDE) , Google Developer Groups (GDG) and Women Tech Makers (WTM) — were most prominently represented on Google I / O.
GDE representatives settled in a special expert zone, where they communicated with the participants and helped in solving their practical problems. The organizers of GDG and WTM to a greater extent performed the volunteer function, helping the organizers, at the right moments, to coordinate and moderate the conference. Also for the participants of GDG and WTM, a special quest GDG Hunt was organized as part of the event and several secret reports were held. After the conference, all GDE and GDG Hunt winners were invited to the closed after party, where googles celebrated the end of the conference in a big way.
(the whole world of GDG in one photo taken at the GDG Summit, which passed before the I / O)
Android is developing so rapidly that it’s extremely difficult to keep pace with its pace. Yes, and as they say - fun together! Therefore, active and talented people around the world are united within various developer communities.
For those who are interested in exploring Android together, I advise you to learn more about the Google Developer Group and become a member of the events closest to you. And if you feel the strength to help others, then you probably should try yourself in the role of GDG organizer or become GDE!
More on the topic:
Material design
I know that many developers and designers continue to think in terms of "Android has no guidelines." Stop it! They are, they are cool, and their name is Material Design.
')
On Google I / O, everything possible was done to ensure that each of the participants plunged into the world of Material Design and gained all the necessary knowledge to create cool applications in the spirit of Material. It is interesting to note that this year the conference itself was decorated in the style of Material! In addition to reports and discussions, anyone could visit a special material station and create a paper prototype of their application using the necessary funds for creativity.
The key announcements of the conference were:
- Expansion of the Material Design specification .
- High-quality update site Google Design .
- Publication of guidelines for Android Auto , Android TV and Cardboard .
- Launching the Device Metric Tool .
- Release Android Design Support Library .
(library for simple and backward-compatible Material support) - Production-ready version Polymer 1.0 .
(now quickly and reliably, including on mobile devices)
(Experts help conference participants in comprehending the Material Design philosophy)
40% of applications published on Google Play over the past year, made in the style of Material Design. If your application does not yet support Material Design, your chances of falling out of favor with users are growing rapidly with each passing day. And vice versa, even if your idea has a competitor, but it is made in the old style, you can make a successful attack on its position due to the support of Material Design. In addition, the development of applications in the style of Material Design takes less time and is easy to scale between different Android devices (from smartphone to car).
If you still do not feel yourself an expert in Material Design, then I highly advise you to take the time to sort out the topic!
More on the topic:
- Report: "Material Now" .
- Report: “Making Material Design” .
- Material Articles and Material Design Icons.
- Material Design Showcase.
Testing
In my opinion, automated testing is the most interesting topic of the current year. Historically, autotests are a sore subject for mobile developers, and on Android we really had nothing to boast about before. The situation began to change 2-3 years ago, when in addition to the popular, but unreliable Android Instrumentation Framework and Robotium, Robolectric and Espresso appeared. You can find out more about the features and features of these tools in my report “Automatic testing of Android applications with love” from MBLTDev 2014.
The key announcements of the conference were:
- Android Studio now supports unit tests .
- Android Testing Framework now supports JUnit4.
- Espresso is now part of the Android Open Source Project and will actively develop within it.
- The emulator has become a little faster, more reliable and will actively improve in this direction, which will allow you to simply create high-quality test infrastructure in the clouds.
- Google launches Cloud Test Lab based on the Appurify startup acquired last year.
If you are developing large and complex Android projects, but do not write tests for them, then, in my opinion, 2015 is the best time to start doing this. Today we have Espresso and Android Testing Support Library, there is a special team at Google, which is actively involved in their development and is happy to help developers learn new tools. Also, very soon everyone will have access to the Cloud Test Lab (within the Google Play Developer Console).
There are already ready solutions, they are made at a fairly good level, now it is up to you. More tests, good and different!
(if you know at least three people in the photo, then you are in the subject of testing for Android)
More on the topic:
- Codelab: "Unit and UI Testing in Android" .
- Report: “Going Green: Cleaning up the Toxic Mobile Environment” .
- Report: "The Importance of Automated Testing on Real and Virtual Mobile Devices" .
Community
In my opinion, Google perfectly knows how to organize communities around its products and technologies. Three communities — Google Developer Experts (GDE) , Google Developer Groups (GDG) and Women Tech Makers (WTM) — were most prominently represented on Google I / O.
GDE representatives settled in a special expert zone, where they communicated with the participants and helped in solving their practical problems. The organizers of GDG and WTM to a greater extent performed the volunteer function, helping the organizers, at the right moments, to coordinate and moderate the conference. Also for the participants of GDG and WTM, a special quest GDG Hunt was organized as part of the event and several secret reports were held. After the conference, all GDE and GDG Hunt winners were invited to the closed after party, where googles celebrated the end of the conference in a big way.
(the whole world of GDG in one photo taken at the GDG Summit, which passed before the I / O)
Android is developing so rapidly that it’s extremely difficult to keep pace with its pace. Yes, and as they say - fun together! Therefore, active and talented people around the world are united within various developer communities.
For those who are interested in exploring Android together, I advise you to learn more about the Google Developer Group and become a member of the events closest to you. And if you feel the strength to help others, then you probably should try yourself in the role of GDG organizer or become GDE!
More on the topic:
- Greetings from the GDG Summit 2015 .
- GDG RU and WTM RU @ Google+.
- E-book: GDG Wisdoms .
- Google Developer Experts @ Medium.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/262321/
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