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What’s happening in the Tampa Bay tech/entrepreneur/nerd scene (Week of Monday, August 16, 2021)

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This article is part of the *Android August* series, in which I’m writing an Android development-related article every day during the month of August 2021.

As I mentioned in the previous article in this series, the biggest development in the latest version of Android Studio (at least as far as I’m concerned) is that Jetpack Compose is now included, and therefore official.

Jetpack Compose is Android’s declarative UI, which puts it in the same general category as iOS’ SwiftUI or Facebook’s React.

Jetpack Compose is called declarative as opposed to imperative, which is often summarized as building UIs in a “this is what it should be like” way versus a “this is how it should be created”. It’s the difference between this…

// Imperative UI (Kotlin)
// ======================
val helloButton = Button()
helloButton.text = "Hello, World!"
val layout = Layout()
layout.add(helloButton)

…and this:

// Declarative UI (Kotlin)
// =======================
Layout {
    Button("Hello, World!")
}

The first one specifies, step by step, how to build a simple UI, while the second simply says “this is the UI I want”.

This is a brand new way to build Android UIs, and it’s expected to become the standard way. Now is you chance to get a head start, and the following links can be your first steps.

Get Started with Jetpack Compose

If you want to learn Jetpack Compose, start here — at developer.android.com, where they’ve got a page of links on learning the basics.

Android Developers’ Jetpack Compose Tutorial

In this official tutorial direct from Android’s own creators, you’ll learn Jetpack Compose by building a screen for a chat app that features:

A list of expandable and animated messages
With each message containing an image and some text,
Using Material Design principles with a dark theme included

…and all in fewer than 100 lines of code.

Android Developers’ Jetpack Compose Basics

You’ll want to supplement the article above with this video, which also has you writing a list-based application using Jetpack Compose.

CODE Magazine’s A Practical Introduction to Jetpack Compose Android Apps

This article introduces Jetpack Compose in small steps, starting with a “Hello, World!” app. It goes from there to introduce key concepts such as state, modifiers, and layouts. Finally, you’re introduced to the list and are shown how to use it by building a list of famous comic book superheroes.

This Wednesday, August 11th, is Congressional Startup Day, and the startup news hub Grit Daily is holding a celebratory in-person event at the gorgeous coworking space, Industrious Tampa from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.!

Congressional Startup Day used to be known as “Startup Week Across America”. It takes place in August for a specific reason: That’s when the U.S. Congress takes its annual recess, and when lawmakers go back to their home districts. It’s a great time for senators and representatives to get in touch with entrepreneurs in the places they represent, and for entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs to share their ideas with elected officials and discuss the importance of the businesses and opportunities they create.

The 4X Latina VC Summit is the main attraction of the Congressional Startup Day, and you can catch it in person or virtually. It will feature four of the global top ten Latina VCs talking about all things money and startups:

Consuelo Valverde, founder and managing partner of SV Latam Capital in San Francisco.
Miriam Rivera, CEO of Ulu Ventures, and early seed stage venture fund in Silicon Valley focused on IT startups.
Luciana Carvahlo, the VP of People and Performance at Movile, Latin America’s largest tech investment group and accelerator.
Amanda Jacobson, the Chief of Staff for Oyster Financial, a neobank for SMBs that’s co-headquartered in Mexico City and San Francisco.

Here’s the event’s agenda:

Time	Event
1:00 – 5:00 p.m.	Grit Daily’s Congressional Startup Day at Industrious Tampa.
2:30 – 3:00 p.m.	Latina VC Summit, with Ayurella Muller (Forbes Columnist) and Loralyn Mears, Ph.D. (Grit Daily)
3:30 – 4:00 p.m.	One-minute startup pitch competition x 12, Grit Daily Royale.
4:20 – 4:40 p.m.	“How to Raise Money.” A panel with Loralyn Mears, PhD. with Todd Belveal (WashLava)
4:45 – 5:00 p.m.	Closing Keynote by Florida Legislature Representative Jackie Toledo.
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.	VIP dinner. Inquire for tickets. Limited to 20. VIP only.

Want to know more about this event or register? See the event’s EventBrite page.

Mask Face Protective - Free photo on Pixabay

Remember, we’re in Florida, and we’re in the middle of an all-time high for COVID-19 cases. If you plan to attend the event in person, you should be fully vaccinated and mask up for the event. Alternately, you can attend the anchor event, the 4X Latina VC Summit, virtually.

What’s new in Android Studio Arctic Fox?

This week’s events

Monday, August 16

Tuesday, August 17

Wednesday, August 18

Thursday, August 19

Friday, August 20

Saturday, August 21

Sunday, August 22

Do you have any events or announcements that you’d like to see on this list?

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