Big Picture in Focus: ULOb Know the process of installation using

android studio and be familiar with the

application components.

Metalanguage

• Android Studio - Android Studio provides a unified environment where you can
build apps for Android phones, tablets, Android Wear, Android TV, and Android
Auto. Structured code modules allow you to divide your project into units of
functionality that you can independently build, test, and debug.

• Java -Java is an official language of Android development and is supported by

Android Studio. It has been an official language longer than Kotlin, and it is
also popular outside of Kotlin development for many other purposes. Java and
Android Studio have a steep learning curve, however.

Essential Knowledge

You will be glad to know that you can start your Android application development on
either of the following operating systems −
• Microsoft Windows XP or later version.
• Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later version with Intel chip.
• Linux including GNU C Library 2.7 or later.
Second point is that all the required tools to develop Android applications are freely
available and can be downloaded from the Web. Following is the list of software's you
will need before you start your Android application programming.
• Java JDK5 or later version
 • Android Studio
Here last two components are optional and if you are working on Windows machine then
these components make your life easy while doing Java based application development.
So let us have a look how to proceed to set required environment.

Set-up Java Development Kit (JDK)

You can download the latest version of Java JDK from Oracle's Java site − Java SE
Downloads. You will find instructions for installing JDK in downloaded files, follow the
given instructions to install and configure the setup. Finally set PATH and JAVA_HOME
environment variables to refer to the directory that contains java and javac, typically
java_install_dir/bin and java_install_dir respectively.
If you are running Windows and installed the JDK in C:\jdk1.8.0_102, you would have to
put the following line in your C:\autoexec.bat file.
set PATH=C:\jdk1.8.0_102\bin;%PATH%
set JAVA_HOME=C:\jdk1.8.0_102
Alternatively, you could also right-click on My Computer, select Properties,
then Advanced, then Environment Variables. Then, you would update the PATH value
and press the OK button.
On Linux, if the SDK is installed in /usr/local/jdk1.8.0_102 and you use the C shell, you
would put the following code into your .cshrc file.
setenv PATH /usr/local/jdk1.8.0_102/bin:$PATH
setenv JAVA_HOME /usr/local/jdk1.8.0_102
Alternatively, if you use Android studio, then it will know automatically where you have
installed your Java.

Android IDEs
There are so many sophisticated Technologies are available to develop android
applications, the familiar technologies, which are predominantly using tools as follows
• Android Studio
• Eclipse IDE(Deprecated)

Android operating system is a stack of software components which is roughly divided

into five sections and four main layers as shown below in the architecture diagram.
 Linux kernel
At the bottom of the layers is Linux - Linux 3.6 with approximately 115 patches. This
provides a level of abstraction between the device hardware and it contains all the
essential hardware drivers like camera, keypad, display etc. Also, the kernel handles all
the things that Linux is really good at such as networking and a vast array of device
drivers, which take the pain out of interfacing to peripheral hardware.

Libraries
On top of Linux kernel there is a set of libraries including open-source Web browser
engine WebKit, well known library libc, SQLite database which is a useful repository for
storage and sharing of application data, libraries to play and record audio and video, SSL
libraries responsible for Internet security etc.

Android Libraries
This category encompasses those Java-based libraries that are specific to Android
development. Examples of libraries in this category include the application framework
libraries in addition to those that facilitate user interface building, graphics drawing and
database access. A summary of some key core Android libraries available to the Android
developer is as follows −
• android.app − Provides access to the application model and is the cornerstone
of all Android applications.
 • android.content − Facilitates content access, publishing and messaging
between applications and application components.
• android.database − Used to access data published by content providers and
includes SQLite database management classes.
• android.opengl − A Java interface to the OpenGL ES 3D graphics rendering API.
• android.os − Provides applications with access to standard operating system
services including messages, system services and inter-process communication.
• android.text − Used to render and manipulate text on a device display.
• android.view − The fundamental building blocks of application user interfaces.
• android.widget − A rich collection of pre-built user interface components such as
buttons, labels, list views, layout managers, radio buttons etc.
• android.webkit − A set of classes intended to allow web-browsing capabilities to
be built into applications.
Having covered the Java-based core libraries in the Android runtime, it is now time to
turn our attention to the C/C++ based libraries contained in this layer of the Android
software stack.

Android Runtime
This is the third section of the architecture and available on the second layer from the
bottom. This section provides a key component called Dalvik Virtual Machine which is
a kind of Java Virtual Machine specially designed and optimized for Android.
The Dalvik VM makes use of Linux core features like memory management and multi-
threading, which is intrinsic in the Java language. The Dalvik VM enables every Android
application to run in its own process, with its own instance of the Dalvik virtual machine.
The Android runtime also provides a set of core libraries which enable Android
application developers to write Android applications using standard Java programming
language.

Application Framework
The Application Framework layer provides many higher-level services to applications in
the form of Java classes. Application developers are allowed to make use of these
services in their applications.
The Android framework includes the following key services −
• Activity Manager − Controls all aspects of the application lifecycle and activity
stack.
• Content Providers − Allows applications to publish and share data with other
applications.
 • Resource Manager − Provides access to non-code embedded resources such
as strings, color settings and user interface layouts.
• Notifications Manager − Allows applications to display alerts and notifications to
the user.
• View System − An extensible set of views used to create application user
interfaces.

Applications
You will find all the Android application at the top layer. You will write your application to
be installed on this layer only. Examples of such applications are Contacts Books,
Browser, Games etc.