In this article by Mike van Drongelen, the author of the book Android Studio Cookbook, you will see why Android Studio is the number one IDE to develop Android apps. It is available for free for anyone who wants to develop professional Android apps.

art-android-development-using-android-studio-img-0

Android Studio is not just a stable and fast IDE (based on Jetbrains IntelliJ IDEA), it also comes with cool stuff such as Gradle, better refactoring methods, and a much better layout editor to name just a few of them. If you have been using Eclipse before, then you're going to love this IDE.

Android Studio tip

Want to refactor your code? Use the shortcut CTRL + T (for Windows: Ctrl + Alt + Shift + T) to see what options you have. You can, for example, rename a class or method or extract code from a method.

Any type of Android app can be developed using Android Studio. Think of apps for phones, phablets, tablets, TVs, cars, glasses, and other wearables such as watches. Or consider an app that uses a cloud-base backend such as Parse or App Engine, a watch face app, or even a complete media center solution for TV.

So, what is in the book?

The sky is the limit, and the book will help you make the right choices while developing your apps. For example, on smaller screens, provide smart navigation and use fragments to make apps look great on a tablet too. Or, see how content providers can help you to manage and persist data and how to share data among applications. The observer pattern that comes with content providers will save you a lot of time.

Android Studio tip

Do you often need to return to a particular place in your code? Create a bookmark with Cmd + F3 (for Windows: F11).

To display a list of bookmarks to choose from, use the shortcut: Cmd + F3 (for Windows: Shift + F11).

Material design

The book will also elaborate on material design. Create cool apps using CardView and RecycleView widgets. Find out how to create special effects and how to perform great transitions.

A chapter is dedicated to the investigation of the Camera2 API and how to capture and preview photos. In addition, you will learn how to apply filters and how to share the results on Facebook. The following image is an example of one of the results:

art-android-development-using-android-studio-img-1

Android Studio tip

Are you looking for something? Press Shift two times and start typing what you're searching for. Or to display all recent files, use the Cmd + E shortcut (for Windows: Ctrl + E).

Unlock access to the largest independent learning library in Tech for FREE!

Get unlimited access to 7500+ expert-authored eBooks and video courses covering every tech area you can think of.

Renews at $19.99/month. Cancel anytime

Quality and performance

You will learn about patterns and how support annotations can help you improve the quality of your code.

Testing your app is just as important as developing one, and it will take your app to the next level. Aim for a five-star rating in the Google Play Store later. The book shows you how to do unit testing based on jUnit or Robolectric and how to use code analysis tools such as Android Lint.

You will learn about memory optimization using the Android Device Monitor, detect issues and learn how to fix them as shown in the following screenshot:

art-android-development-using-android-studio-img-2

Android Studio tip

You can easily extract code from a method that has become too large. Just mark the code that you want to move and use the shortcut Cmd + Alt + M (for Windows: Ctrl + Alt + M).

Having a physical Android device to test your apps is strongly recommended, but with thousands of Android devices being available, testing on real devices could be pretty expensive. Genymotion is a real, fast, and easy-to-use emulator and comes with many real-world device configurations.

Did all your unit tests succeed? There are no more OutOfMemoryExceptions any more? No memory leaks found? Then it is about time to distribute your app to your beta testers.

The final chapters explain how to configure your app for a beta release by creating the build types and build flavours that you need. Finally, distribute your app to your beta testers using Google Play to learn from their feedback.

Did you know?

Android Marshmallow (Android 6.0) introduces runtime permissions, which will change the way users give permission for an app.

The book The art of Android development using Android Studio contains around 30 real-world recipes, clarifying all topics being discussed. It is a great start for programmers that have been using Eclipse for Android development before but is also suitable for new Android developers that know about the Java Syntax already.