Webinar on Building a User Interface in Mono for Android

I'll be doing a webinar on Tuesday February 28th on Building a User Interface in Mono for Android.  A little bit about this:

We will look at the basics of building a user interface for Android with Mono for Android. The user interface is typically the first thing that a user sees when they work with your application. They will often judge your application based on the user interface. We will examine the basic concepts of UI design with mobile devices, the Android XML based layout language, some of the UI design surfaces for Android, some basic Android controls and finally some suggestions on creating a successful Android User Interface.

Start Using HTML5 today!

My article on HTML5 and some things that you can use today has gone online at the Dev Pro Connections web site.  Here's a snippet of it:

HTML5 is the direction for web-based applications. All you have to do is listen to the material from any technical conference or keep an eye on web developer online community discussions to know that HTML5 is important. Each day, I read about new and exciting HTML5 features and uses for those features -- witness the many new features in the latest versions of Internet Explorer (IE), Chrome, and Firefox.

Mobile application development is definitely where HTML5 has gotten its start, but HTML5 is not limited to mobile. Here, I will build on the information in "HTML5 for the ASP.NET Developer" along with many other great articles on HTML5 published in DevProConnections and delve into some of the HTML5 features that are available today and that you can use immediately to provide solutions for your customers now. In this article, we'll see what can be done in ASP.NET running in a modern web browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and the recently released IE10. (As an FYI, in December 2011 Chrome 15 was named the most popular web browser version by StatCounter, though Internet Explorer is the most popular browser family.)

I want to thank several people for helping me with this article.  Honestly, there are several. I ran across a blog post by Lars Jarlvik last summer that I used as the roadmap for some work and this article as well.  I emailed with Lars about starting with his blog post and he was on board with this.  Many thanks to Lars.  Other folks that should be mentioned are my friends Dave Ward and Spike Xavier.  Both have been really helpful.  I have learned from them and grown professionally by associating with them.  I am forever in their debt.

Review of "Beginning iOS5 Application Development"

I was recently given the opportunity to review Wei Meng Lee's most recent edition of his beginning iOS programming series.  This book is entitled "Beginning iOS5 Application Development."  Admittedly, I know Wei Meng, so that may result in a little bit of bias.

As a developer targeting the iPhone and iOS, I have found Wei-Meng's books and knowledge helpful to me as I write applications, articles,and expand my own personal knowledge of iOS.  If you are anything but an expert developer in iOS, this is a good book that will help you develop and grow in iOS.  For example, I was looking for some animation examples recently and was able to easily understand Wei-Meng's examples and translate them into MonoTouch easily.

A little bit about this book:

If you want to develop apps for Apple's iPhone and iPad, first you need to know how to use the tools--iPhone's new iOS 5 operating system and SDK, and the new xCode toolset that come with it. This full-color book is the perfect starting point. Beginning developers, you'll get a solid introduction to the new xCode 4 and Objective-C and find everything you need to quickly build your first app. The book thoroughly covers all the new iOS 5 features, including new multitasking, location-based services, notification system, cloud-based features, and much more.

• Written by bestselling Wrox author, Wei-Meng Lee, this is an ideal book for beginning developers
• Helps eager developers quickly start building apps for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch
• Introduces iOS 5, xCode 4, Objective-C, and the basics you need to create your first Apple device app
• Covers a host of new iOS 5 capabilities, including new multitasking, new location-based services, and a new notification system
• Shows you how to work with iOS 5's cloud-based features for online storage of music, photos, and video

iOS Development with MonoTouch Cookbook

I was recently given the opportunity to review Dimitris' iOS Development with MonoTouch Cookbook. 

My first thought on the book was "do we need another book in this niche?".  I was the first to attack the niche with my book that came out in June, 2010.  Since then, Mike Bluestein's book has shipped.  Right after that Bryan Costanich's book shipped.  My book was based on iOS 3.  Mike and Bryan's books are based on iOS4.  After reading this book, the answer is yes.  There are two reasons for this:

• Dimitris' book covers iOS5 material.  I was glad to read through the section on page turning (the curl), which is an iOS5 feature.   There are also examples about twitter integration and other iOS5 features.
• The book has lots of little self contained examples.  I don't like books that try to build off of one example throughout the whole book, in fact, I HATE them.  There I said it.  If you have one example that builds through out your book, I just don't like it.  This book has lots of little examples.  I LOVE it that way.  These examples are just that, short examples where I can look for what I need, get the content, and bom, get on back with the larger problems I am trying to solve.  This is a danger when  only one author is involved, but thankfully, this issue did not occur in this book.

Bottom line, if you are looking to get into iPhone development and are a .NET developer, this is a good book.

Author Review and Production Editing are complete

What book editing isn't better the second time around?  Like a dog returns to his vomit and the fool to his folly, the author must return to his writing.  And with the past week, my author team and I have finished our AR and Production Editing for Wrox's "Professional Android with Mono for Android and .NET/C#." We are literally 8 months from being AR and PE complete the first time around (I really hope that there isn't a third). 

And with the upload to my editor at Wiley/Wrox, the book known as "Professional Android Programming with Mono for Android and .NET/C#" is now Author Review Complete, barring any slip ups on my part.  Its always a great feeling to get these things done.  A real load off of my shoulders. 

The genesis of this book has been really interesting.  It started while we were still writing our "Professional iPhone Programming with MonoTouch" book.  We started talking about this due to the Apple self FUD starting last April, 2010.  Watching the number of Android devices sold go up each quarter also helped me make the decision to go forward.  Martin Bowling started as the lead author.  Unfortunately, he had family issues and had to drop off during the planning stages. The other authors that joined me on this were Nathan Blevins, Jon Dick, Chris Hardy, and John Croft.

Here is some info from the Amazon web site about our book: 

The wait is over! For the millions of .NET/C# developers who have been eagerly awaiting the book that will guide them through the white-hot field of Android application programming, this is the book. As the first guide to focus on Mono for Android, this must-have resource dives into writing applications against Mono with C# and compiling executables that run on the Android family of devices.

Putting the proven Wrox Professional format into practice, the authors provide you with the knowledge you need to become a successful Android application developer without having to learn another programming language. You'll explore screen controls, UI development, tables and layouts, and MonoDevelop as you become adept at developing Android applications with Mono for Android.

• Answers the demand for a detailed book on the extraordinarily popular field of Android application development
• Strengthens your existing skills of writing applications and shows you how to transfer your talents to building Android apps with Mono for Android and .NET/C#
• Dives into working with data, REST, SOAP, XML, and JSON
• Location, mapping, and the question of "where am I?" with regards to mobile.
• Discusses how to communicate with other applications, deploy apps, and even make money in the process

Professional Android Programming with Mono for Android and .NET/C# gets you up and running with Android app development today.

Please remember to buy 8 to 10 copies for the ones you love.  They will make great presents all year round. If you would like to start by pre-ordering 5, that would be great to.