A Beginner’s Guide to Application Development with Android

by Barbara Dee Internet Marketing Executive

Modern enterprises, almost invariably, are in constant search of a medium of engagement for the target users and thereby necessitating developers and designers to consistently work towards developing new and innovative applications with Android so as to enhance the experience of the users. A guide to developing such applications could be enlightening.

Understanding Android

Before developing applications for the operating system, it is necessary understanding what Android is. It is an operating system that is based on the Linux kernel. Android Open Source Project or AOSP lead by Google has developed the operating system.

What it Supports

Android supports the background processing and it also is instrumental in providing rich user interface libraries. The operating system supports both 2-D as well as 3-D graphics. To ensure this the system uses OpenGL-ES standards. The system offers users open access of file systems and also to the embedded SQLite databases. Besides indigenous visual and non-visual elements in the system itself Android can also use components from other programs.

Android Task

Concept of task in Android is that of reusing other applications. Developers need to remember that Android application development should be such that it can easily access and use other Android components in order to achieve the given task. It is possible triggering another component from one component in the system. This facilitates photo management even when it is not part of the application development. The user only needs to select the photo and return to the developed application to use it. Sequences of events in the process are represented in the following figure.

What it takes to undertake Development on Android Platform

Android platform is the stack of software divided into 4 categories.

Applications such as homes, contacts, browsers, camera, gallery, music, and phones etc.
Application framework such as activities, windows, and packages enabling communication between Android systems and applications.
Libraries from which resources would be obtained. This can be used for graphics, storage of data and browsing the contents online.
Linux kernel that is backbone of entire system. It is the communication layer for the hardware used in the system.

In the above hierarchy the application framework encapsulates the libraries, run times and Linux kernel. Therefore the developer works with the top two layers only for developing high end software for the user.

Application Development Tools

Major application development tools for Android are as follows.

The Android Software Development Kit or SDK helps creation, compilation and packaging of the applications developed for Android.
Java is the programming language for Android based application developments.
Android debug bridge of ADB that helps to connect with either virtual or real time Android devices.
Two most important kits are the Android Studio and Android Developer Tools or ADT. The former is based on IntelliJ IDE whereas the later is based on the Eclipse IDE.

Both of the above IDEs encompass the functionalities for creating, compiling, debugging and deploying Android applications. It is therefore expected that developers accept the concept while developing applications for Android.