App Inventor [Paperback]

App Inventor: Create Your Own Android Apps describes and shows people how to use a new web application platform which has the goal of allowing non-programmers to be able to make Android apps. This book is for people who have never programmed before who wish to develop Android apps. "App Inventor" should not be confused with the Android SDK, which is geared towards professional programmers who already know Java, nor with the Android NDK that uses C++.

Computers have made a lot of progress in the last three decades. We have moved from machines that can only work with 80 column text using a fixed-width font to machines with sophisticated graphical user interfaces. This transition has been done piecemeal, starting with the transition from the Apple II to the Macintosh, followed by the transition from DOS to Windows for business computers, which was then followed by the transition of the Internet from Usenet and other text-only applications to graphical web browsers.

The only technology that hasn't made this transition is the interface used by programmers. Programs are still made using the paradigm of an 80-column terminal with a fixed-width font.

App Inventor breaks this programming model. Programs are developed with a mouse; the program structure is described using graphical components resembling pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The App Inventor book walks you through the process of using this platform, starting with a simple "Hello, world" application and finishing with advanced topics such as using Android's web API.

One issue I had with the system is that App Inventor needs a fast computer with a large screen to function well. While I was able to build basic applications on my test system (an Atom N455 Netbook with a small 1024x600 screen), the emulated system I was developing on ran very slowly and developing applications required a lot of switching the window between the web page with the application and the Java-generated page for programming the application's logic.

I might have had better luck running the system using my 64-bit Linux system which runs the Android SDK noticeably faster, but unfortunately I was unable to synchronize App Inventor with its included Android emulator in Linux.

App Inventor shows a lot of promise, and the O'Reilly book does a good job of describing how to use this development toolkit. Unfortunately, the technology is a little too cutting-edge to use with the low-end computers many people have today. Only get this book if you have tried out App Inventor and it runs well on your system.

DISCLOSURE: A digital copy of this book was given to me because I am a member of the O'Reilly Blogger Review Program.

I have been learning to use App Inventor since I first got a smart phone about six months ago. This book is a much needed learning text for App Inventor. It teaches by having you build examples apps with each one getting a little harder and introducing new concepts.
It starts with Hello Purr, a variation of Hello World. The book makes even this well-known app fun because of a couple of variations it throws in.
In the meantime it explains everything step by step and teaches useful programming practices like testing often, in fact each time you add something new to your program.
The chapters are all well illustrated including a few fun photographs of real people illustrating something about the app.
The book is divided into two main sections. The first section, thankfully, is all the fun apps which you build and learn by doing.
The second section, called Inventor's Manual, is also very interesting when you are ready for it. It discusses issues from a programmers point of view with suggestions on incremental development and similar helpful programming design tips.
It also includes an in depth discussion of all the features, components, and blocks in App Inventor.
The two sections of the book, the tutorials and the Inventor's Manual together provide far more coherent and approachable documentation for App Inventor than Google's on-line documentation.
For anyone who craves a little structure in their learning, I highly recommend this book.

is a good product but the web references are all out of date because google sold the development environment to ... MIT ....