Android High Performance Programming

Build fast and efficient Android apps that run as reliably as clockwork in a multi-device world

About This Book

• Wide coverage of various topics that help in developing optimal applications
• Explore the concepts of Advanced Native Coding in depth
• A must-have for professional-standard Android developers for whom performance failures and the sloppy use of resources are simply unacceptable

Who This Book Is For

This book is aimed at developers with an advanced knowledge of Android and who want to test their skills and learn new techniques to increase the performance of their applications. We assume they are comfortable working with the entire Android SDK, and have been doing it for a few years. They need to be familiar with frameworks such as NDK to use native code, which is crucial for app performance

What You Will Learn

• Create Android applications that squeeze the most from the limited resource capacity of devices
• Swap code that isn't performing
• Efficient memory management by identifying problems such as leaks
• Reap the benefits of multithreaded and asynchronous programming
• Maximize the security and encryption mechanisms natively provided by Android
• Perform efficient network operations and techniques to retrieve data from servers
• Master the NDK to write native code that can perform faster operations

In Detail

Performant applications are one of the key drivers of success in the mobile world. Users may abandon an app if it runs slowly. Learning how to build applications that balance speed and performance with functionality and UX can be a challenge; however, it's now more important than ever to get that balance right.

Android High Performance will start you thinking about how to wring the most from any hardware your app is installed on, so you can increase your reach and engagement. The book begins by providing an introduction to state–of-the-art Android techniques and the importance of performance in an Android application. Then, we will explain the Android SDK tools regularly used to debug and profile Android applications. We will also learn about some advanced topics such as building layouts, multithreading, networking, and security. Battery life is one of the biggest bottlenecks in applications; and this book will show typical examples of code that exhausts battery life, how to prevent this, and how to measure battery consumption from an application in every kind of situation to ensure your apps don't drain more than they should.

This book explains techniques for building optimized and efficient systems that do not drain the battery, cause memory leaks, or slow down with time.

Style and approach

The book follows a tutorial-based approach to take the reader from the basic fundamentals of debugging to advanced performance-improvement concepts.

Enrique López Mañas is a software engineer focused on mobile development. He has strong experience with Android and iOS, but also with Windows Phone, Blackberry, and Sony Ericsson SDK. He also has intensive experience with Google GWT and Java/J2EE Backend (Hibernate, Spring, and Struts).

He has developed a few interesting projects by himself-for example, StackBlur for Android, cvBlob for Android, my Sentimental Analyzer, and AppRate for Android.

Diego Grancini is an Android developer with extended skills and knowledge about the whole platform system. Many years of experience (and the several projects he has developed) show his grounding in developing client application software.

His passion for technology and dedication to work have led him to work harder and harder. He always achieves his goals, and always sets new targets and challenges to stimulate his professional growth. He pays special attention to the concept of software engineering in terms of reusability, readability, maintainability, and reliability,