Some things I learnt while developing on the Android

1. Things I wish I knew
Hard Earned Android Programming Experiences
Kashif

2. Directi
• We do exciting work
• Mobile
• Desktop
• Server
• Internet scale
• We have a fun CEO
• We even have stall
Join Directi

3. Talk.to
Communication software
● Android, iPhone, BB
● Desktop, Web
● In person
● All services
● FB, Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc...
● All channels
● SMS
● VOIP
● Video
● Chat

4. Use Native
1

5. Use Native
●
Webstuff and HTML5 sucks for mobile dev
●
Not complete
●
Not performant
●
Lots of corner cases
●
Typically poor code quality
●
http://slidesha.re/g68sCY

6. Debugging ++
2

7. Debugging ++
● Use DDMS
● Memory Leaks
● Thread Leaks
● Dominator Graph – MAT not JHat
● TraceView startMethodTracing – 8 MB limit
● Application Crash Report for Android (ACRA)
● http://code.google.com/p/acra/
● Send yourself a crash report – automatically
● Easy, awesome, indispensible
● Debug Logs – ACRA or logcat

8. Always remember Memory
3

9. Always remember Memory
●
Don't cache too much
●
Statics can screw with memory
●
Soft References
●
Garbage Collection (tool for analyzing rate)
●
Reuse – unlike OOP Compilers
●
Release on LowMemory you may not die

10. Services get collected
4

11. Services get collected
●
You don't need a service
●
Android kills you
●
Users kill you
●
Use C2DM and AlarmManager

12. Focus on the right devices
5

13. Focus on the right devices
●
Foolish feedback loop
●
Low End Devices
●
All screen sizes
●
Relative Layouts
●
You don't have to support everything

14. Everything is customizable
6

15. Everything is customizable
● ListItems,
● Tabs,
● Buttons,
● Title Bars,
● Edit Text,
● Dropdowns,
● Keyboards,
● Checkbox,
● DialogBox,
● Radiobuttons,
● Life...

16. The database is slow
7

17. The database is slow
●
Batch Reads
●
Don't read single values
●
Batch Writes
●
not really – but single compile
●
DatabaseUtils.InsertHelper
●
UI Interaction underway – defer DB
●
Worry about schema migration

18. Networking eats battery
8

19. Networking eats battery
●
Raj VijayKumar at Qualcomm
●
Android radio set to dormant after 10 seconds
●
Multiplex sockets
●
Prefer native TCP
●
Use Push

20. Monitoring etc...
9

21. Monitoring etc...
●
We used Google Analytics and that sucked
●
Flurry is cool
●
SDK
●
Other demographic data
●
Events
●
Customized for mobile at all levels
●
MonkeyRunner

22. Questions?
kashifrazzaqui
@ kashif.ra@directi.com