Asynchronous Android

Book Description

Harness the power of multi-core mobile processors to build responsive Android applications

Overview

• Learn how to use Android’s high-level concurrency constructs to keep your applications smooth and responsive
• Leverage the full power of multi-core mobile CPUs to get more work done in less time
• From quick calculations to scheduled downloads, each chapter explains the available mechanisms of asynchronous programming in detail

In Detail

With more than a million apps available from Google Play, it is more important than ever to build apps that stand out from the crowd. To be successful, apps must react quickly to user input, deliver results in a flash, and sync data in the background. The key to this is understanding the right way to implement asynchronous operations that work with the platform, instead of against it. Asynchronous Android is a practical book that guides you through the concurrency constructs provided by the Android platform, illustrating the applications, benefits, and pitfalls of each.

Learn to use AsyncTask correctly to perform operations in the background, keeping user-interfaces running smoothly while avoiding treacherous memory leaks. Discover Handler, HandlerThread and Looper, the related and fundamental building blocks of asynchronous programming in Android. Escape from the constraints of the Activity lifecycle to load and cache data efficiently across your entire application with the Loader framework. Keep your data fresh with scheduled tasks, and understand how Services let your application continue to run in the background, even when the user is busy with something else.

Asynchronous Android will help you to build well-behaved apps with smooth, responsive user-interfaces that delight users with speedy results and data that’s always fresh, and keep the system happy and the battery charged by playing by the rules.

What you will learn from this book

• Understand Android’s process model and its implications on your applications
• Exercise multithreading to build well-behaved Android applications that work with the platform
• Apply and control concurrency to deliver results quickly and keep your applications responsive to user input
• Discover Android-specific constructs that make asynchronous programming easy and efficient
• Learn how to apply Android’s concurrency constructs to build smooth and responsive applications

Approach

Asynchronous Android is a step-by-step guide that builds a complete picture of the concurrency constructs available on the Android platform.

Who this book is written for

This book is for Android developers who want to learn about the advanced concepts of Android programming. No prior knowledge of concurrency and asynchronous programming is required. This book is also targeted towards Java experts who are new to Android.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Building Responsive Android Applications
Chapter 2: Staying Responsive with AsyncTask
Chapter 3: Distributing Work with Handler and HandlerThread
Chapter 4: Asynchronous IO with Loader
Chapter 5: Queuing Work with IntentService
Chapter 6: Long-running Tasks with Service
Chapter 7: Scheduling Work with AlarmManager

中文：

书名：Asynchronous Android

利用多核移动处理器的力量构建响应迅速的Android应用程序

Overview

• 了解如何使用Android的高级并发结构来保持应用程序的流畅和响应能力
• 充分利用多核移动CPU的强大功能，在更短的时间内完成更多工作
• 从快速计算到计划下载，每一章都详细解释了可用的异步编程机制

In Detail

Google Play提供了100多万个应用程序，开发脱颖而出的应用程序比以往任何时候都更加重要。为了取得成功，应用程序必须对用户的输入做出快速反应，在闪光灯下提供结果，并在后台同步数据。实现这一点的关键是理解正确的方法来实现与平台协同工作的异步操作，而不是与平台对抗。异步Android是一本实用的书，它指导您了解Android平台提供的并发构造，并说明每种构造的应用程序、优点和缺陷。

学习正确使用AsyncTask在后台执行操作，保持用户界面平稳运行，同时避免危险的内存泄漏。了解处理程序、处理程序线程和循环，它们是Android中异步编程的相关基础构建块。摆脱活动生命周期的限制，使用Loader框架在整个应用程序中高效地加载和缓存数据。通过计划任务保持您的数据更新，并了解服务如何让您的应用程序在后台继续运行，即使用户忙于其他事情。

异步安卓将帮助你构建性能良好的应用程序，具有流畅、响应迅速的用户界面，以快速的结果和始终新鲜的数据取悦用户，并通过遵守规则来保持系统满意和电池充电。

你将从这本书中学到什么

• Understand Android’s process model and its implications on your applications
• 练习多线程以构建性能良好的Android应用程序，这些应用程序可以在平台上运行
• 应用和控制并发性，以快速交付结果并保持应用程序对用户输入的响应
• 了解使异步编程变得简单高效的特定于Android的构造
• 了解如何应用Android的并发构造来构建流畅且响应迅速的应用程序

Approach

异步Android是一个循序渐进的指南，它构建了Android平台上可用的并发构造的完整图景。

这本书是为谁写的

本书面向想要学习Android编程高级概念的Android开发人员。不需要有关并发和异步编程的先验知识。这本书的目标读者也是刚接触Android的Java专家。

目录表

第1章：构建响应式Android应用程序
第2章：保持对异步任务的响应能力
第3章：使用Handler和HandlerThread分发工作
第4章：使用加载器的异步IO
第5章：使用IntentService排队工作
第6章：使用服务执行长时间运行的任务
第7章：使用AlarmManager安排工作