Not in agreement a very common misconception that Android is an OPERATING SYSTEM for the upcoming android phones, i would first like to clarify that android is more of a Software Stack, and not an operating system, as such. It was the brainchild of Open Handset Alliance, which is a group of companies and organizations, with google being one of the most prominent ones, who decided to invent an open source mobile platform, for developers to work on and design applications for. A major initiative taken by Google to promote Android was the launching of Android Developers Challenge, which met huge success, and saw participations from all over the world in large numbers, with about 50 of the contesting entries making it to the next level.
The most promising feature of Android platform, which clearly demarkates it from other mobile computing systems is its ability to not differentiate between the base operating system and third party apps. this essentially means that u can customize or totally revamp basically every aspect of the OS, from SMS reciever to the home screen.
Android makes use of, what they call as, IntentReceivers to trigger actions based on them. IntentsReceivers are nothing but notifications which are automatic, in the sense that they are dependent only on the provider’s “alerts” to the user. the example of an intent receiver may be an incoming text message, an incoming call, voice mail etc. these intent receivers can then be used to trigger various methods, which also form a part of this software stack. one of the methods deployed is Activity. An Activity is simply a screen (or what programmers might call, a single Form) which forms a part of the larger UI of the application. so u might have an Activity to show your contact list, and another activity to dial the selected contact. these two screens can form a UI for dialer app. the various activities of an UI are linked using Intents, which decides what-to-do(intent). then there are intent filters which decide whether the activity would be able to implement a certain Intent.
The above writeup, very briefly explains the basic building blocks of the Android software stack. Google has also provided the developers with a amazing lot of APIs to work with, which also include its landmarked Google Maps API, that provides beautiful functionality of an android phone as a GPS device. The android SDK includes a phone emulator, on which u can take ur applications for a spin, providing u with nothing less than a complete phone system in itself. this, particularly, makes developing android apps a fun task too. btw, these apps have to be written essentially in java, so a basic working knowledge of java is needed before u dive into programming on android SDK. then there always is google’s official documentation.
There is also an Android plugin for eclipse users known as the Android Developer Tools(ADT), which is pretty useful too.
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- Hello world program with code
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- Home Screen
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- Emulator’s browser.
Hello world program with codeHome ScreenEmulator's browser.
Filed under: Technical | Tagged: adt, android, android emulator, android sdk, API, eclipse, google, google maps, intentreceiver, java, mobile, open handset alliance, open source, operating system, software stack
hey saahil, its really gr8 to see someone from our school taking interest in such things,
btw m already working on this platform for almost 1 month now, in future if i plan to develop an app. then i hope you’ll surely help me out with this….
hi piyush. thx and FYI i, myself, aint any authority or pro on android. just started working my way around with it, developing some basic apps digging through the basic arch. neways, u keep me posted on wat u r upto too.
I’d appreciate this effort more were you to space and format your paragraphs properly. Makes one feel like reading and getting involved in what you got to say. Takes only a little time and then people don’t mind your typos either.
I’ve tried getting into Android programming but the lack of proper Python binding support still holds me back from it. Some other month maybe.
Hey Saahil, congrats for such a feat. I think there are hardly any Android programmers in or around Manipal (atleast not in my language). Keep up your work, I also tried it last year winters but due to lack to proper internet connection had to abondon.
Just tell me when you want to take a workshop and the arrangements will be done ASAP. I am too busy in placements,but can still make arrangements.
thx a lot there. as a matter of fact, i started reading through the google documentation some time back, messing around with the APIs a bit. cud’nt learn it in a very organized fashion, cuz i think the official docs are pretty hard to get around with, with so many interlinked pages, and also quite inadequate. still, giving it my best shot. i’ll let u know when v can organize a workshop, maybe techtatva itself, when u can back me up during the demos. thx again.