The first phrase that is likely to seem vague or unfamiliar in the preceding definition of RxJava is “asynchronous data stream.” Let’s start by unpacking that phrase. That last statement about RxJava may not make complete sense to you now, but you should be able to understand it by the time you are finished reading this chapter. RxJava will be helpful in implementing this app because it is a library that allows us to represent any operation as an asynchronous data stream that can be created on any thread, declaratively composed, and consumed by multiple objects on any thread. Obviously, this app would require us to fetch the HackerNews data over the network, and because we can’t block the UI thread, implementing this app would require us to fetch HackerNews data asynchronously. Our HackerNews client might look a little like Figure 1-1: Figure 1-1. Let’s start with the guiding example that will help us get a handle on RxJava. Imagine we are building a HackerNews client, an app that allows users to read HackerNews stories and comments. After seeing how much cleaner RxJava can make your Android code, hopefully you will have the motivation to return here to this introduction.
Although you won’t understand exactly how the code in that section works, you will be able to see how RxJava makes quick work of tasks that can often become messy and inflexible when handled without RxJava. In that section, I go over a situation in which RxJava provides us with advantages over traditional ways of handling asynchronous data in Android applications.
If you are skeptical that RxJava is worth learning about, given its steep learning curve, skip ahead to the second section of the next chapter. In this chapter, I provide a basic introduction to RxJava. This is unfortunate because, for reasons I point out in the next chapter, RxJava can make asynchronous data handling in Android apps much cleaner and more flexible. Learn moreĪs Dan Lew, a Google Developer Expert Android Developer, points out in the preceding quotation, RxJava can be very difficult to learn. Get a free trial today and find answers on the fly, or master something new and useful. Join the O'Reilly online learning platform.
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