aj-geddes/android-kotlin-development

Android Kotlin Development

Table of Contents

• Overview
• When to Use
• Quick Start
• Reference Guides
• Best Practices

Overview

Build robust native Android applications using Kotlin with modern architecture patterns, Jetpack libraries, and Compose for declarative UI.

When to Use

• Creating native Android applications with best practices
• Using Kotlin for type-safe development
• Implementing MVVM architecture with Jetpack
• Building modern UIs with Jetpack Compose
• Integrating with Android platform APIs

Quick Start

Minimal working example:

// Models
data class User(
  val id: String,
  val name: String,
  val email: String,
  val avatarUrl: String? = null
)

data class Item(
  val id: String,
  val title: String,
  val description: String,
  val imageUrl: String? = null,
  val price: Double
)

// API Service with Retrofit
interface ApiService {
  @GET("/users/{id}")
  suspend fun getUser(@Path("id") userId: String): User

  @PUT("/users/{id}")
  suspend fun updateUser(
    @Path("id") userId: String,
    @Body user: User
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)

Reference Guides

Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:

| Guide | Contents | |---|---| | Models & API Service | Models & API Service | | MVVM ViewModels with Jetpack | MVVM ViewModels with Jetpack | | Jetpack Compose UI | Jetpack Compose UI |

Best Practices

✅ DO

• Use Kotlin for all new Android code
• Implement MVVM with Jetpack libraries
• Use Jetpack Compose for UI development
• Leverage coroutines for async operations
• Use Room for local data persistence
• Implement proper error handling
• Use Hilt for dependency injection
• Use StateFlow for reactive state
• Test on multiple device types
• Follow Android design guidelines

❌ DON'T

• Store tokens in SharedPreferences
• Make network calls on main thread
• Ignore lifecycle management
• Skip null safety checks
• Hardcode strings and resources
• Ignore configuration changes
• Store passwords in code
• Deploy without device testing
• Use deprecated APIs
• Accumulate memory leaks