Thursday 24 January 2013

Path to Creating Applications for Android

By Erika Smith-Jones


Google has built the Android operating system so that any person with the appropriate skillsets can create software programs to run on an Android smartphone or tablet. Google's method of developing smartphones is basically opposite to Apple, who prefer control over the software that people can add to their iPhones. The open nature of Android ensures that you may literally create anything you want and people may download and install the app.. Many coders have jumped ship from iPhone apps to building apps for the Android on account of the flexibility it provides them.

When you create an application for the iPhone it is at the disposal of a reviewer who ascertains if the app meets certain criteria to be sold on iTunes or if perhaps it is suitable for the app store. Many programs don't get released due to Apple's censorship rules. In addition to this, research firm, NDP Group said 1 / 2 of all smartphone sales are for Android cell phones. By the end of 2010 Thirty-two million handsets were running the Android operating system. No surprise everyone is looking into tips on how to create Android applications.

Android apps are programmed with Java. You will need to learn this language or use a developer who does. You need to download and install the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) from Google. The SDK has classes, libraries, code examples plus an interface to test your brand-new Android software. You can even download the Google APIs Add-On extension, this includes libraries specific to Google's various web services.

You'll typically design the gui in Illustrator and save the graphics in vector format. Although, it really is advisable to use a qualified designer to make the user interface. The libraries in the SDK also contain some standard vector graphics you can use when building an Android app. If the app creates information that needs to be stored and referenced later like a weight tracker in which you enter your weight and plot trends using a graph over time you will have to hold the data within an SQLite database. You will additionally need to compose the necessary code to create, write, delete and retrieve data from the database. data from the database.

Getting the finished application from your laptop or computer to your Android smartphone is a tad complex since it has to be converted, compiled and deployed. Android works with a system known as Dalvik Virtual Machine. Your Java Class files must be converted in to .dex files by using a tool named DX. After this is accomplished it needs to be packaged in to an .apk (Android Package) file by using something known as the Android Asset Packing Tool. Only if this is done can the application be installed on an Android phone.

The good thing is you'll find vast libraries of freely available code on the Android developers website and on third party sites which provide lessons on how to get started making your first Android app.




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