Asynchronous Android Programming

About This Book

• Construct scalable and performant applications to take advantage of multi-thread asynchronous techniques
• Explore the high-level Android asynchronous constructs available on the Android SDK
• Choose the most appropriate asynchronous technique to implement your next outstanding feature

Who This Book Is For

This book is for Android developers who want to learn how to build multithreaded and reliable Android applications using high-level and advanced asynchronous techniques and concepts.

What You Will Learn

• Get familiar with the Android process model and low-level concurrent and multithread constructs available on the Android SDK
• Use AsyncTask to load data in the background, delivering progress results in the meantime
• Enhance UI performance and responsiveness by sending work to a service running in the background
• Defer, schedule, and batch work on the Android system without compromising the battery life and user experience
• Use the JNI interface to execute concurrent work on native layer
• Pull and push data from your network servers using the Google GCM platform
• Create and compose tasks with RxJava to execute complex asynchronous work in a predictable way
• Get accustomed to the use of the Android Loader construct to deliver up-to-date results

In Detail

Asynchronous programming has acquired immense importance in Android programming, especially when we want to make use of the number of independent processing units (cores) available on the most recent Android devices. To start with, we will discuss the details of the Android process model and the Java low-level concurrent framework, delivered by the Android SDK. Next, we will discuss the creation of IntentServices, bound services, and external services, which can run in the background even when the user is not interacting with them. In a more advanced phase, you will create background tasks that are able to execute CPU-intensive tasks in native code–making use of the Android NDK.

You will be then guided through the process of interacting with remote services asynchronously using the HTTP protocol or Google GCM Platform. Finally, we will introduce RxJava, a popular asynchronous Java framework used to compose work in a concise and reactive way.

關於本書
本書旨在教導Android開發人員如何使用高級異步技術和概念來構建多線程和可靠的Android應用程序。你將學習如何構建可擴展和高效的應用程序，以充分利用多線程異步技術。同時，你還將探索Android SDK中提供的高級異步構造，並選擇最適合的異步技術來實現下一個出色的功能。

適合對象
本書適合Android開發人員，他們想要學習如何使用高級和先進的異步技術和概念來構建多線程和可靠的Android應用程序。

你將學到什麼
- 熟悉Android進程模型以及Android SDK提供的低級並發和多線程構造
- 使用AsyncTask在後台加載數據，同時提供進度結果
- 通過將工作發送到在後台運行的服務來增強UI性能和響應能力
- 在不影響電池壽命和用戶體驗的情況下，延遲、計劃和批處理Android系統上的工作
- 使用JNI接口在本地層執行並發工作
- 使用Google GCM平台從網絡服務器上拉取和推送數據
- 使用RxJava創建和組合任務，以可預測的方式執行複雜的異步工作
- 熟悉使用Android Loader構造傳遞最新結果

詳細內容
異步編程在Android編程中變得非常重要，特別是當我們想要利用最新Android設備上可用的獨立處理單元（核心）的數量時。首先，我們將討論Android進程模型的細節以及Android SDK提供的Java低級並發框架。接下來，我們將討論創建IntentServices、綁定服務和外部服務的過程，這些服務可以在用戶不與它們交互時在後台運行。在更高級的階段，你將創建能夠在本地代碼中執行CPU密集型任務的後台任務，並利用Android NDK。

然後，我們將引導你通過使用HTTP協議或Google GCM平台異步與遠程服務進行交互的過程。最後，我們將介紹RxJava，這是一個流行的異步Java框架，用於以簡潔和反應式的方式組合工作。