Android Development 101

The Android Platform

• A software stack for mobile devices

  • OS kernel, system libraries, application
    frameworks & key apps

• Android SDK for creating apps

  • Libraries & development tools

Linux Kernel

• Standard Services

  • Security, Memory & process management, File & network I/O, Device drivers

• Android Specific

  • Power management, Android shared memory, Low memory killer, Interprocess communication & More

Libraries

• System C Library

• Web Kit

• Surface Manager

• OpenGL

• Media Framework

• SQLite

Android Runtime

• Core Java libraries

• Dalvik Virtual Machine

Application Framework

• Package Manager

• Window Manager

• View System

• Resource Manager

• Activity Manager

• Content Provider

• Location Manager

• Notification Manager

Applications

• Home – main screen
• Contacts – contacts database
• Phone – dial phone numbers
• Browser – view web pages
• Email reader –compose & read email messages
• And more...

The Android Development Environment

• ADT Bundle
• Android Studio
• Android Emulator
• Debugger
• DDMS

Application Components

• Activity

• Service

• Broadcastreceiver

• Contentprovider

Activity

• Primary class for user interaction
• Usually implements a single, focused
  task that the user can do

Service

• Runs in the background
• To perform long-running operations
• To support interaction with remote
  processes

BroadcastReceiver

• Component that listens for and responds to
  events
• Events represented by the Intent class
  and then Broadcast
• BroadcastReceiver receives and
  responds to broadcast event

Content Providers

• Store & share data across applications
• Uses database-style interface
• Handles interprocess communication

Creating An Android App

1. Define resources

2. Implement application classes

3. Package application

4. Install & run application

Defining Resources

• Resources are non-source code entities

• Many different resource types, such as
  Layout, Strings, Images, Menus, & animations

• Allows apps to be customized for
  different devices and users

Implement Classes

• Usually involves at least one Activity

• Activity initialization code usually resides in onCreate()

Package Application

• System packages application components & resources into a .apk file

• Developers specify required application information in a file called AndroidManifest.xml

Install & Run

• From IDE run in the emulator or
  device

• From command line (ADB)

Resources

• http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/index.html

• http://developer.android.com/tools/studio/index.html

• http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html

• http://www.bongizmo.com/blog/android-resources-each-developer-should-know/

• http://mrubel.com/androidlime/

• http://jakir.me/category/android

Sumon M. Selim

Software Engineer, P1

@SumonMSelim