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Chapter 2
What’s Next? Our Road Ahead
Before getting into the details of Android applications development, we’ll take a look at our “road
ahead.” This chapter provides an overview of what is covered in this book, and why it’s covered in
the order that we will cover it in.
You will see the logical progression throughout the book of how each chapter builds on the previous
ones. We’ll move from setting up the Eclipse IDE in Chapter 3, to learning how Android works in
Chapters 4 and 5, to adding exciting visuals and user interfaces (UIs) in Chapters 6 through 8,
to adding interactivity and complexity in Chapters 9 through 11. The final chapter inspires you to
keep learning about the more advanced features of the Android platform, as it continues to expand
to encompass applications development for emerging consumer electronics platforms such as
interactive television sets (iTVs), tablets, and e-book readers.
Your Android Development IDE
In Chapter 1, you downloaded the Java SE, Eclipse, and Android SDK packages you need to build
an applications development environment for creating Android applications. In Chapter 3, you’ll learn
how to set up these tools as a cohesive Android development environment, and then you’ll use this
development environment throughout the rest of the book to create applications, or “apps.” You’ll do
this by creating, step-by-step, from scratch, the very latest Android IDE out there—right on your very
own development workstation.
Note that the latter part of this process must be done while online, so be sure to have your Internet
connection active and firing on all cylinders. We’ll be connecting in real time, via Google’s Android
developers website, to the latest Android application development tools, plug-ins, drivers, and
documentation. We’ll even set you up with some other related new media tools such as the new
GIMP 2.8.2 Digital Imaging software.
Although it might seem to you that the setup of Java SE, Eclipse IDE, Android’s SDK, and an Android
Virtual Device (an emulator that mimics the behavior of a real Android smartphone or tablet) is a
topic too trivial for an entire chapter, this task is actually one of the most critical in this book. If your
Android IDE does not work 100% perfectly, your code will not work 100% perfectly. In fact, without a
robust and properly configured IDE, you may not be able to develop any code at all!
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