Android is a software toolkit for mobile phones, created by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. It's inside millions of cell phones and other mobile devices, making Android a major platform for application developers. That could be your own program running on all those devices.

Getting started developing with Android is easy. You don't even need access to an Android phone, just a computer where you can install the Android SDK and the phone emulator that comes with it. Within minutes, "Hello, Android" will get you creating your first working application: Android's version of "Hello, World."

From there, you'll build up a more substantial example: an Android Sudoku game. By gradually adding features to the game throughout the course of the book, you'll learn about many aspects of Android programming including user interfaces, multimedia, and the Android life cycle.

This second edition has been completely revised for Android 1.5 (Cupcake) and Android 1.6 (Donut). Every page and example was reviewed and updated for compatibility with the new version. In addition, two new appendixes show you how to create Widgets for the Home screen and publish your application to the Android Market.

If you're a busy developer who'd rather be coding than reading about coding, this book is for you. To help you find what you need to know fast, each chapter ends with a "Fast-Forward" section. These sections provide guidance for where you should go next when you need to read the book out of order.