Now in Android #32
Kotlin & Jetpack APIs, a new course on Navigation, several articles, and a podcast episode
Welcome to Now in Android, your ongoing guide to what’s new and notable in the world of Android development.
It’s been a few weeks since the previous Now in Android went live, before the holidays — let’s see what’s been happening in the Android universe in the meantime.
NiA32 in Video and Podcast Form
This Now in Android is also offered in video and podcast form. It’s the same content, but with less reading required. The article version (keep reading!) is still the place to come for links to all of the content that’s covered.
Video
Podcast
Click on the link below, or just subscribe to the podcast in your favorite client app.
Modern Android development: Kotlin & Jetpack
The MAD Skills series continues to roll on, with technical content about modern Android development.
The series on using Kotlin with the Jetpack APIs has been chugging along. Since the initial episodes covered last time, we’ve had three more land. These episodes offer information on using the Room and WorkManager libraries in general, but also offer specific guidance about using Kotlin features, such as coroutines, to simplify things.
Using Room Kotlin APIs
In this episode, Florina Muntenescu shows how to use and test the Room Kotlin APIs for your local-database storage requirements.
Or in article form:
Using WorkManager Kotlin APIs
This time, Florina shows how to use WorkManager to schedule asynchronous work, either immediately or which can be deferred:
Or in article form:
Community Tip: Kotlin for Development Speed and Quality
Magda Miu, a Google Developer Expert (GDE) for Android, explains how her team uses Kotlin to write easier, more maintainable code for CameraX vendor extensions.
Finally, later this week, we’ve got another livestream Q&A to finish up the Kotlin & Jetpack series, airing on Thursday at 10am Pacific Time. It might have already happened by the time you’re reading this, but you can always watch the recording to hear the conversation and catch the answers to the questions people were asking.
Be sure to tune in next week, when we will start a brand new MAD Skills series. For ongoing content, be sure to check the MAD Skills playlist on YouTube, the articles on Medium, or this handy landing page that points to all of it.
Android Training
The Android Basics in Kotlin course now has a new unit available!
Unit 3: Navigation
This unit offers tutorials and samples on the Navigation component, as well as other APIs in the Android Architecture Components libraries.
Articles
Cryptography and biometric authentication
Isai Damier published a new article on cryptography, authentication, and security. He covers a lot of interesting background in cryptography, and explains why a secure solution involving cryptography should also generally involve biometric authentication.
Kotlin productivity
Florina Muntenescu published an article on the productivity gains from using Kotlin. If you’re already writing a lot of Kotlin code, you probably know this. But if you are wondering whether to start diving into using Kotlin for your work, or looking to help convince others on your project, this article has some concrete details that might help you make the case for it.
Handling onClick() in RecyclerView
Meghan Mehta posted the third article in her ongoing series on RecyclerView. One of the most common requirements for RecyclerView is handling user clicks. I mean, clicking on an item in a list should usually do… something, right? In this article, Meghan shows a recommended way of handling this functionality.
Podcast Episodes
There’s been another episode of Android Developers Backstage posted since the last Now in Android. Check it out at the link below, or in your favorite podcast client:
ADB 154: It’s a Wrap!
To end the year (and oh! what a year it was!), Tor Norbye, Romain Guy and I recorded a hostful (guestless?) episode where we talked about some of the things that happened in the past year as we all figured out different ways to work, as well as some recent developments in the Android tools and platform space.
Now then…
That’s it for this time. So go MAD for more Kotlin/Jetpack content! Take a course on Navigation! Read some articles on security, Kotlin productivity, and RecyclerView! Listen to the latest ADB podcast! And come back here soon for the next update from the Android developer universe.
