Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners - Third Edition

By : John Horton
Book Image

Android Programming for Beginners - Third Edition

By: John Horton

Overview of this book

Do you want to make a career in programming but don’t know where to start? Do you have a great idea for an app but don't know how to make it a reality? Or are you worried that you’ll have to learn Java programming to become an Android developer? Look no further! This new and expanded third edition of Android Programming for Beginners will be your guide to creating Android applications from scratch. The book starts by introducing you to all the fundamental concepts of programming in an Android context, from the basics of Java to working with the Android API. You’ll learn with the help of examples that use up-to-date API classes and are created within Android Studio, the official Android development environment that helps supercharge your mobile application development process. After a crash course on the key programming concepts, you’ll explore Android programming and get to grips with creating applications with a professional-standard UI using fragments and storing user data with SQLite. This Android Java book also shows you how you can make your apps multilingual, draw on the screen with a finger, and work with graphics, sound, and animations. By the end of this Android programming book, you'll be ready to start building your own custom applications in Android and Java.
Table of Contents (30 chapters)

Inheritance example app

We have looked at the way we can create hierarchies of classes to model a system that fits our app. So, let's try out some simple code that uses inheritance. The completed code is in the Chapter 11 folder of the code download. It is called Inheritance Example.

Create a new project called Inheritance Example using the Empty Activity template and then add three new classes in the usual way. Name one AlienShip, another Fighter, and the last one Bomber.

Here is the code for the AlienShip class. It is very similar to our previous class demo, AlienShip. The differences are that the constructor now takes an int parameter, which it uses to set the shield strength.

The constructor also outputs a message to the logcat window, so we can see when it is being used. The AlienShip class also has a new method, fireWeapon, that is declared as abstract.

Declaring a class as abstract guarantees that any class that subclasses AlienShip must implement its own...