Beginning Android Tablet Programming starts off by showing how to get your system ready for Android tablet programming. You won't need any previous Android experience, because you'll learn all about the basic structure of an Android program and how the Android operating system works—and then you'll learn how to write your first Android tablet application from scratch!

Beginning Android Tablet Programming then equips you to build a set of interesting and fully-working Android tablet applications. These projects will give you the inspiration and insights to build your own Android programs in the future.

You'll be introduced to 2D programming, and you'll see what you can do with a touch screen interface and the Honeycomb SDK. Of course, 3D programming is even more alluring for many programmers. If that includes you, you'll learn about how Honeycomb has changed the game for Android graphics programming, and get your first taste of 3D programming on an Android tablet.

Lights, camera, action! You'll learn along the way how Android Honeycomb gives you access, through your programming, to all those interesting sensors that tablet computers are equipped with today—beyond the touch screen itself. You'll learn, for example, how you to use a tablet GPS sensor to locate your car!

You'll also discover how you can access files on your tablet—or on the web—through programming, and then build on that insight to create your own file browser application. This Android project contains many useful coding techniques appropriate for many situations you might encounter in your future programming Android tablet applications; you'll be glad to have them under your belt.

So do you want to write programs that can receive and send reminder messages via SMS? Do you want to write your first 2D or 3D game on Android? Perhaps you'd like to write an application that sorts out all your contacts for you! Beginning Android Tablet Programming introduces you to Android tablet programming, and shows how you can program your Android tablet from scratch to do what you want!

What you’ll learn

Programming for a touch screen environment
Learn about the new facilities available from Android 3.0 Honeycomb
Take advantage of sensors and data feeds while writing entirely new applications
Code a game for an Android tablet
How to write Android tablet programs code in programming languages other than Java
Transition from an Android smart phone environment to an Android tablet

Who this book is for

Beginning and intermediate Android programmers
Intermediate Java programmers
Intermediate programmers in open-source programming languages, especially Python

Table of Contents

Getting Started
How Android Works
What You Can Do with an Android Tablet
Beyond Java: Programming in Python and Friends
Project 1: Media Player
Explorer:An Android File Explorer
Contact Manager:and other potentially useful applications
Dude, Where’s My Car?:Adventures in GPS
Let the games begin!: Some 2d and 3d graphical game techniques
Remind Me:Playing with Alarms and SMS
Everything Else: Advanced Techniques and other stuff