Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems Part 1

Part of the Mobile Cloud Computing with Android Specialization

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the design and implementation of Android applications for handheld systems, such as smartphones and tablets.

This course has been developed in two parts (Part 1 and Part 2), which will cover the fundamental programming principles, software architecture and user experience considerations underlying handheld software applications and their development environments.

Course completers will be able to build their own Android applications and experienced engineers to master a powerful set of development skills.

Part 1 of this course will focus on the core components of the Android platform that underly all Android applications:

• setting up your Android Development Environment
• working with screen configurations and multiple screen sizes
• working with the all-important Activity Class and its lifecycle
• being able implement intents and permissions
• running multiple activities with the Fragment Class
• creating user interfaces to make your apps run smoothly for your users.

Part 2 will focus on advanced components and concepts provided by the Android platform:

• notifying users about important events
• handling concurrency
• acquiring data over the network 
• leveraging multimedia and graphics
• incorporating touch and gestures into your apps
• working with sensors
• To bring these concepts alive, the course will involve in-­depth, hands-­on examples of applications implemented with the Android Platform. Students will apply what they learn, also using the Android Platform, in laboratory projects and in a large course project defined in collaboration with MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The Mobile Cloud Computing with Android (MoCCA) Specialization: New and Improved

We are proud to announce that the MoCCA specialization has already reached hundreds of thousands of learners around the globe.

In its last iteration, we worked with Google to provide Nexus tablets, feedback from the Google App team, and the potential to be featured in the Google Play store to top course completers. This time, we'll be working with Google again to provide you with an incredible Android learning experience.

This time around, we are providing more flexibility for all of you busy learners. We are running the Programming Mobile Applications courses in more digestible one-month-long sections, each with a meaningful mini-project at the end. Additionally, we will be re-offering the courses more frequently. Now, you can find a convenient time to join us or pick up where you left off if you didn’t quite finish before.

Note: To participate in the final project, you must earn Verified Certificates for all courses in the sequence. Learners who purchase Full Access to the entire series will also receive two years of unlimited retries while these courses are offered.

For previous MoCCA students: If you have already completed my previous version of this course, "Programming Mobile Applications for Android Handheld Systems” offered in January and September 2014, you do not need to retake this course to continue towards the Specialization certificate and final project in 2015.

Please consult the Specializations Help Center or contact the Coursera support team if you are not sure whether you qualify.

What is the MoCCA Specialization?

This course has been designed as part of a Coursera Specialization designed to help learners create complex, cloud-based Android Applications, called the Mobile Cloud Computing with Android (MoCCA) Specialization.

The other four courses are led respectively by Drs. Douglas Schmidt and Jules White of Vanderbilt University, and some of the programming assignments and the course project for these courses will be coordinated.

• Course 3: Programming Mobile Services for Android Handheld Systems: Concurrency
• Course 4: Programming Mobile Services for Android Handheld Systems: Communication
• Dr. Douglas Schmidt, Associate Chair of Computer Science and Engineering and Professor of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University

The third and fourth courses in the sequence focus on systems programming topics, such as middleware services and background processing.

• Course 5: Programming Cloud Services for Android Handheld Systems: Spring
• Course 6: Programming Cloud Services for Android Handheld Systems: Security
• Dr. C. Jules White, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University

The fifth and sixth courses in the sequence will focus on connecting Android mobile devices to cloud computing and data storage resources, essentially turning a device into an extension of powerful cloud-based services on popular cloud computing platforms, such as Google App Engine and Amazon EC2.

Although each of these courses stands alone, those who do choose to complete the entire MoCCA sequence will gain a much more detailed, end-to-end understanding of handheld systems and their applications.

Course Syllabus

Week #1:

Objective: In this lesson, I discuss the Android Platform and the Android Development Environment and walk through the logistics of how to get started as an Android application developer.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• understand the components comprising the Android Platform
• use various tools found in the Android Development Environment

Week #2:

Objective: In this lesson, I explain the basic components from which all Android applications are created. I also present the Activity class - one of the main class responsible for displaying an application's user interface.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• recognize the four fundamental components of Android applications
• work with the lifecycle of the Activity class
• create a simple Android application

Week #3:

Objective: In this lesson, I explain the Intent class and Permissions. I also present the Fragment class - another key class responsible for displaying an application's user interface.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• create applications comprising more than one Activity
• understand how to define and enforce permissions
• design applications that run on multiple, differently-sized devices

Week #4:

Objective: In this lesson, I summarize and demonstrate the many class Android provides for creating user interfaces.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
Course Format

• define and deploy applications with sophisticated and elegant user interfaces.
• Mini-project - Modern Art User Interfaces: Students will build a complete app from scratch. Collaborators from the Museum of Modern Art will help student draw some inspiration from the work of several Modern Art masters.

This course is created for students who already know how to program in Java, but are not expected to have studied mobile application development. This corresponds roughly to Sophomore- or Junior-level undergraduate students in a computer science related discipline or the equivalent.

If you don't already know Java, but have strong familiarity with other programming languages, you can improve your Java knowledge by taking one of the many Java tutorials and online courses available on the web. This course assumes previous programming knowledge. It also assumes that you are willing to search for, read and learn from Android's developer documentation. This is both a necessary skill for success in the class, and, in our experience, a necessary skill for successful Android developers at all levels.

In short, this course is not designed for truly novice programmers. If your background is not appropriate for this class, consider first taking a less programming-intensive introduction to Android such as "Creative, Serious and Playful Science of Android Apps", by Lawrence Angrave of the University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign.

This course assumes previous programming knowledge. It also assumes that you are willing to search for, read and learn from Android's developer documentation. This is both a necessary skill for success in the class, and, in our experience, a necessary skill for successful Android developers at all levels.