The history of Android has been told in many small parts; but to get the whole story you would have to scour thousands of blog posts, hundreds of podcasts, and the minds of a few dozen people that would probably ask you to leave them be — until now, that is. Androids: The Team That Built the Android Operating System is set to release tomorrow, bearing the tale of how the world’s most widely used operating system came into existence. If you’re curious about the backstory of the OS that you spend half your day staring at when you should really be working, you can pre-order the book now.
Chet Haase, the author of Androids, is perhaps best known for delivering witty banter while hosting Google I/O fireside chats and developer sessions, or even educating people about bugs wherever they will let him. But he is also a longtime developer at Google with over a decade on the Android, working primarily on the UI Toolkit team; and he had a lot to do with enabling the smooth animations and visual effects of Material Design.
Work-life balance is good.
Outside of work, I switch from programming Android to writing. About Android.
Book available soon. pic.twitter.com/Q80YxxmeRm— Chet Haase (@chethaase) August 7, 2021
As Chet pointed out shortly after the original announcement last weekend, this book is meant for everybody, not just engineers. There won’t be a lot of technical jargon, but instead it’s filled with the events, experiences, decisions, and anecdotes of the people behind the green bot. And fear not, it has been confirmed on no uncertain terms, there will be puns.
The ebook is priced at $9.99 USD, and it’s available for pre-order now. You can choose from either Google Play Books or Amazon, but these options aren’t entirely equal. If you go with Play Books, the release date is a mere day away, on August 14. Buying through Amazon will give you a Kindle version that might be a little more versatile, but you’ll have to wait until August 29 for this release, amounting to an additional 15 days.
