Fragmented - Android Developer Podcast

We're back from the hiatus with our SemiQuicentennial episode! With the momentous 250 comes some big announcements and a shift in the way we do things.Listen to find out the details!Shownotes: https://fragmentedpodcast.com/episodes/250

In this episode of our podcast, we explore the diverse landscape of Java versions within the Android ecosystem. Our guest is Michael Bailey, a seasoned Java expert who has been a frequent presence on our show since the early days of our podcast. We kick off with a solid foundation, discussing the differences between JDK and JRE, as well as the distinctions between the available Java JDKs. We also guide listeners through Android Studio settings, exploring how to select a suitable JDK, its utilization, and how it relates to JAVA_VERSION on one's home path/terminal.As we dig deeper, we start to unpack some of the crucial Android app settings. From compileOptions to sourceCompatibility/targetCompatibility, we shed light on why these versions are important. We also demystify the compileSdk vs minSdk vs targetSdk, and how they interconnect. Drawing from Kaushiks's recent experience in building a new app, we provide real-life examples that can better clarify these topics for our listeners.We conclude the episode by

In this edition of Fragmented, we're thrilled to host Ishan Khanna, a software engineer at Tinder who possesses great enthusiasm for feature flags and A/B testing. Donn discusses why he invited Ishan on the show, highlighting Ishan's passion for feature flagging and A/B testing. The conversation kicks off with an insightful story from Ishan about feature flagging at Booking.com, leading to a discussion on the difference between A/B Testing and Feature Flags, when and why to introduce feature flagging, and how to measure its effectiveness. The show also focuses on the benefits and risks of feature flagging, along with ways to manage potential complexities in the codebase.We then delve deeper into the topic of feature flagging, covering how to get started, what to look for in a tool, and the role of testing. Discussion points include the best practices for rollout percentages, considerations for multi-platform implementation, and the specifics of targeting in feature flagging. The conversation wraps up with an

In this episode, we talk to, Siggi Jonsson. Siggi helps guide us through the complex and often confusing world of Android app modularization. Our conversation will begin by shedding light on the importance of modularization, what triggers the need for breaking projects into multiple modules, and how modularization relates to team size, feature teams, and code ownership. This discussion is aimed at demystifying how and why developers often choose to modularize their applications.As we move forward, we'll dive into more advanced aspects of modularization, such as the challenges of scaling and the potential missteps in over-modularization. Drawing on real-world experiences, we'll examine the red flags that signal a need for revising your modularization strategy. This part of our discussion will also highlight some specific tools and techniques that can help manage and visualize your project's modularization, and Siggi will share his own experiences and insights into how these tools have assisted in his modulariz

In this podcast episode, we have the pleasure to host Fred Porciúncula, a Google Developer Expert (GDE) known for his work with Kotlin Inject and his invaluable contributions to the Android development community. Fred offers his expertise on Dependency Injection (DI), Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP), and how they intersect.We kick off the conversation by discussing Dependency Injection (DI), its importance, and the options available to developers, including Dagger, Hilt, Anvil, Koin, and Kotlin-Inject. Fred explains the use and impact of DI in the Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) world, considering Dagger’s current lack of KMP support and debating whether one should use separate DI tools for Android apps and KMP components.Delving further into Kotlin-Inject, we explore its features, usage, and how it differentiates itself from other DI solutions. Topics discussed include its unique handling of Scopes, its support of constructor injection, and its utility in building dependency graphs. Furthermore, we examine the timeles

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to an old friend of the show, Colin White, about Treehouse, a combination of the Redwood and Zipline libraries.Colin is a Staff Engineer at Cash App (Block).Redwood is a multiplatform Compose library that allows you to target multiple UI toolkits on various native platforms. Ultimately this allows you to share presentation logic.Zipline is a multiplatform JavaScript engine for Android, iOS, and the JVM, which uses Kotlin for calls in/out of the JavaScript land. This allows you to update the application logic of your apps without the traditional song and dance of the app store approval and release process.Treehouse is the combination of both libraries, Redwood and Zipline. Listen in to learn more ...LinksRedwoodZiplineQuickJSKotlin Conf Talk on TreehouseDroicon NY talk - RedwoodDroidcon NY talk - ZiplineFind Colin Online hereTwitter - @colinwhiMastodonAndroidJobs.IOJob postings are FREE on AndroidJobs.IO!Sign up to get notified of new jobs on a weekly basis as well.Androi

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik announce that they are steering the podcast back into Android waters. In other words, the Fragmented Podcast is returning to its roots ... we're back to being a 100% Android Development focused show.We're glad to have you as a listener, here's to the future of Android Development.

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to long-time friend Dan Lew about his recent career switch from Android developer to TypeScript/Node.js/Progressive Web App Developer (and more).It's an interesting discussion that covers ...Why Dan decided to leave the Android worldThe challenges he faced when he moved from one tech stack to anotherHow to prepare for a big change like this (mentally, financially, etc.)How to create the life you want live vi by identifying what's important to youand much more ...LinksRheaplyDonn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course, you'll learn everything you need to know to start working with Git everyday. Watch it here.AndroidJobs.IOJob postings are FREE on AndroidJobs.IO during the early release phase (at the time of this recording).Sign up to get notified of new jobs every week as well.AndroidJobs.IOSoftware FreelancingDonn's Freelance Faction CommunityFreelance Tactics BookDonn's Freelancing Content on YouTubeContact@fragmentedcast or our

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about one of the age old bike shedding topics - code formatting, and how you can solve it with automation and tools.Code formatting can turn into an endless debate amongst peers and teams, and what Kaushik and Donn have found is that this can be delegated to a tool and automated. Freeing you and your team of having to worry about proper indentation, bracket placement, etc. By relying on a well defined tool and some automation you can clean your code up, make it much more uniform and easier maintain.We talk about ktfmt, a Kotlin code formatter that was released by Facebook. We dive into ktlint, detekt and more. We also dive into spotless which can help you by integrating ktfmt into your gradle build pipeline.Linksktfmt - website, githubspotless - githubdetekt - websitektlint - websiteDonn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course you'll learn everything you need to know in order to start working with Git everyday. Watch it here.Androi

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about the fear of shipping, some impostor syndrome and how it contributes to uncertainty and doubt in your capabilities as a software developer.Recently Donn embarked on a mission to come up with an idea and ship it within 24 hours (which he did do). The end result was a net benefit of confidence, speed and skill acquisition. This helped reduce any doubt, uncertainty and ultimately fear of shipping a product faster.That's what this conversation is about ... how to doing a project like the 24 hour MVP can remove fear, uncertainty and doubt and help you ship your side project/products faster.LinksDonn's 24 Hour Project - EXIFRJumpstart Rails Template that Donn UsedBooks-AI App by Florian WaltherOpen AIDonn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course you'll learn everything you need to know in order to start working with Git everyday. Watch it here.AndroidJobs.IOJob postings are FREE on AndroidJobs.IO during the early release phase (at th

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about 5 new-ish Kotlin constructs that you might not be aware of.The constructs that they talk about are:fun interface (SAM - Single Abstract Method), and they juxtapose them vs function typestype aliasimport aliasvalue classdata objectYou'll learn what they are, how you can use them and when or when you might not want to use them, and more. We hope you enjoy.LinksKaushik's Blog Post - Important Kotlin ConstructsSAM Interface - Kotlin DocsFunction Types - Kotlin DocsType Aliases - Kotlin DocsImport Alias - Kotlin DocsValue Class - KEEPData Object - KEEPEnjoy!Donn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course you'll learn everything you need to know in order to start working with Git everyday. Watch it here.AndroidJobs.IOJob postings are FREE on AndroidJobs.IO during the early release phase (at the time of this recording).Sign up to get notified of new jobs on a weekly basis as well.AndroidJobs.IOSoftware FreelancingDonn's Freelance Facti

In this short episode, Donn talks about the CODEOWNERS file and how it can help you ensure teams review the code that they are responsible for before merging.The CODEOWNERS file is a file that you drop into the root of your project (or into the /docs or .github/ directory) that tells GitHub (or whatever git host you're using) to require a review for any code changes that match the patterns as defined in the CODEOWNERS file. You'll specify a matching pattern and users, or teams that own that pattern of files and they will be required to review the PR before it can be merged. This helps prevent unwanted changes to files that may or may not be owned by one team or another. This is useful as teams grow larger and need more control over the changes in their application codebase.LinksCODEOWNERS GitHub DocEpisode 012 - CI and Collective Code OwnershipGitHub Organization TeamsDonn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course you'll learn everything you need to know in order to start

In this episode, Donn talks about the tips and tricks he's used over the last 20 years of consulting, freelancing and working full time to find jobs and new opporftunities. We're hoping some of these tips help those affected by the recent tech layoffs.These are tips that Donn still uses to this day. They work wonders to help you land a job quickly when you do them.The tips:Update your LinkedIn Profile and Build a Resume with the LinkedIn Resume BuilderSet your LinkedIn status to "Open to Work" via the "Open to Work" feature on LinkedInDirectly Reach out to Recruiters you know or have interacted withManual Discovery: Visit various companies career pages and job board and apply directlyAncillary Tips to Boost Your Chances of Landing a Job:Blog about the technology you’re looking to get a job inCreate a demo app or an app you can use to showcase your talents and put it on GitHubRecord a How To Video and post it to YouTube showing how to do something, such as a tutorialRecord/Start a podcast or reach out to hosts

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about their thoughts on Jetpack Compose and XML for Android layouts and which one you should learn first.As with every conversation in tech ... it depends on what you're trying to do, where you are at in your career, what the company is doing and more. Donn and Kaushik go into both of their thought processes around Compose and XML and when you should learn one or the other, or even both and whether Jetpack is the future ... or is XML here to stay?LinksTutHub.ioCoding in Flow YouTubePhilip Lackner's Compose PlaylistEpisode 231: Learning Jetpack Compose with Vinay GabaEpisode 171: Jetpack Compose with Leland Richardson from GoogleDonn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course you'll learn everything you need to know in order to start working with Git everyday. Watch it here.AndroidJobs.IOJob postings are FREE on AndroidJobs.IO. Post your Android Job and get it in front of thousands of Android pros.Are you an Android Dev? Sign up to get

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about the thought of having a terminal for Android.Have you ever wished you could whip up a quick script to get the current location of a device, add it to cron and do some automated tasks on your phone? Wouldn't it be nice to have low level access to your system like you do on your desktop?In this episode, Donn and Kaushik dive into the details of what that might look like and why they find it intriguing.Donn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course you'll learn everything you need to know in order to start working with Git everyday. Watch it here.AndroidJobs.IOJob postings are FREE on AndroidJobs.IO during the early release phase (at the time of this recording).Sign up to get notified of new jobs on a weekly basis as well.AndroidJobs.IOSoftware FreelancingDonn's Freelance Faction CommunityFreelance Tactics BookDonn's Freelancing Content on YouTubeContact@fragmentedcast or our Youtube channel@donnfelker and donnfelker (on Instagram

In this episode, Kaushik goes solo and interviews Ben Orenstein. Ben is a prolific Ruby developer, an amazing conference speaker, an ardent vim-ster, and now the CEO of Tuple.Kaushik has been a big fan of Ben's work and was super stoked to talk to Ben and pick his brains on a host of topics: starting the company Tuple, pair programming in general, learning different programming languages and technology, giving better conference talks and more!This episode is chock full of wisdom from Ben. Enjoy!LinksPragmatic ProgrammerTweet: Best Android Studio Pair Programming Servicelearntopair.com - Tuple's Pair programming guideSpeaking for HackersTuple App - OSSBen's talks:Refactoring from Good to Great by Ben OrensteinIdea to Validation to Launch - Microconf 2019Write code faster: expert-level vimContactBen is @r00k listen to his podcast - The Art of ProductFollow @fragmentedcast or our Youtube channel@donnfelker and donnfelker (on Instagram)kau.sh's blog or @kaushikgopal (on Twitter)

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk about how many Android applications seem to suffer from the disease of over-architecture while neglecting the product (UI/UX) itself. They discuss why this is deterimental to the user experience in the Android platform and how they've seen it evolve over the years. They attempt to provide some thoughful ideas on how this can be rectified in the future and more.We're looking for your feedback on this show. What are your favorite product apps that are just a joy to use on Android? Let us know on Twitter at @donnfelker and @kaushikgopal and @fragmentedcastDonn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course you'll learn everything you need to know in order to start working with Git everyday. Watch it here.AndroidJobs.IOJob postings are FREE on AndroidJobs.IO during the early release phase (at the time of this recording).Sign up to get notified of new jobs on a weekly basis as well.AndroidJobs.IOSoftware FreelancingDonn's Freelance Faction Com

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to John Rodriguez (jrod) about the Paparazzi library which allows you to perform UI screenshot testing on Android without an emulator or physical device.They talk to John about what screenshot testing is, why it's important, advantages and it's disadvantages as well. You'll learn how to use Paparazzi and how it can test various different screen configurations without having to run an emulator. You read that correct ... without an emulator.If you're looking to incorporate screenshot testing into your app, this is the episode for you.LinksPaparazzi Project websiteGitHub RepoJohn's TwitterCashapp GitHubTestParameterInjectorFragmented Episode 52Donn's Git CourseNeed to learn Git? Donn has the course for you. In this FREE course you'll learn everything you need to know in order to start working with Git everyday. Watch it here.AndroidJobs.IOJob postings are FREE on AndroidJobs.IO during the early release phase (at the time of this recording).Sign up to get notified of new job

In this episode Donn and Kaushik talk about frustration, finding "flow state" and how it's known as "the madness" and how to deal with it.We originally were going to talk about an other topic, but during the off air banter Donn brought up how he was frustrated with losing/burning so much time on a task that he had for his side project. He only meant to spend a little bit of time on it and then spent WAY more time than he meant to. He got to the point where he had to stop working on the project, yell at himself for not time boxing it and then he had to refocus. This piqued Kaushik's interest and they decided to hit record to talk about this topic as its something they both deal with and have also hear many other developers deal with too. The "Madness" is when you get consumed by your work and you're so passionate that you lose track of time, eating and more. You've become consumed ... you have "The Madness". This happens to all developers, and Donn and Kaushik talk about how to not let this derail your day whe

In this episode, Donn and Kaushik talk to Android GDE Vinay Gaba about learning Jetpack Compose.They talk about how to learn how to use Jetpack Compose by example (and Vinay's excellent talk by the same name). How to use Jetpackcompose.app to help you find the right Jetpack Compose component and how to use ShowKase to organize discover and visualize your Jetpack Compose Elements. We then dive into why someone might want to learn Jetpack Compose and how to start learning it. They touch briefly on the parts of Compose, such as the compiler, runtime, UI, foundation, and more. They wrap up by talking about Unidirectional State flow and by answering the hot question ... "Is Jetpack Compose ready for production?" If you're looking to learn more about Jetpack Compose, this is an episode for you. LinksVinay's TwitterVinays Learning Jetpack Compose by Example VideoJetpackCompose.app (find the Jetpack Compose component you're looking for by typing in the XML equivalent)ShowKase - A library to organize, discover and vis