Android developers spend a lot of time writing XML layouts every day. This talk will explain how Android’s LayoutInflater works. By the end of this talk, you will have an understanding of how XML gibberish gets converted to Views in Java, how AppCompat is able to back-port Material Design for pre-Lollipop devices auto-magically and how libraries like Calligraphy work.

• What is LayoutInflater
• How View hierarchies are constructed from XML layouts
• Why layout inflation is a slow process
• Why custom Views require fully qualified names in XML
• How AppCompat back-ports Material Design
• How the Calligraphy library works
• Writing your own library that hooks into the inflation process

I work at Uncommon (http://uncommon.is) and have been trying to create better Android apps for a little more than 3 years now. I’m also a student of food science, a BAFTA award winner and a liar.