Developing Applications for Android - Lecture#1

Developing Applications
for Android

Muhammad Usman Chaudhry
SZABIST CS4615

Lecture # 1

Today
● Course Introduction
● What will you learn?
● Why learn android?
● Prerequisites
● What I expect from you?
● Grading
● Project & Other Requirements
● Book & Reference material
● Android History, Overview & Evolution
● Platform Architecture
● Example Applications
● Growth Comparison of Android with iOS & Other Mobile
Platforms
Muhammad Usman Chaudhry CS4615 SZABIST

Course Introduction
● 2 + 1 Credit Hours
● 1 Class per week (Every Friday)
● Highly Interactive


What will you learn?
● Understand the complete android
development architecture.
● Engineer beautiful, sleek & awesome
android apps.
● Real life applications of Object Oriented
Programming.
● Some wonderful design patterns
● Many computer science concepts like,
Databases, Multimedia, Multithreading,
Graphics, etc. applied in your apps.

What will you learn?
● Create better applications with lower
resources available (unlike desktop, web
systems).
● Industry oriented Java standards, clean
coding tips, etc.


Why Learn Android?
● Run your applications on 59% of the
smartphones worldwide equalling 331
million devices. (Jul - 2012)
● Join in 600,000 applications for android.
(Jun - 2012)
● 20 billion app downloads so far
● High average with around 500 downloads
per app.
● Not just smartphone, Android OS is being
used in, TVs, Microwaves, Car Tapes, etc.

Why Learn Android?
● High job success rates.
● Don't want a job? Create app sell to market.
You maybe the next best startup.
● Easy to show to your friend, take your
android out of your pocket and bam! You
don't need computer now.


Prerequisites
● Object-oriented programming. (Important)
● You must understand terms like:
○ Class
○ Instance
○ Method
○ Context
○ Superclass/Subclass
○ Interface/Protocols
○ Delegates
● Basic understanding of design patterns


Prerequisites
● If you haven't already written any programs
where you had to create handful of classes
then you'll need to work doubly hard to
keep up the pace.


What I Expect From You
● High punctuality
● Focus & interest in class
● On time assignments
● Continuous feedback


Grading System
● Assignments x 10
● Quizzes x 15
● Project x 20
● Midterm x 20
● Final x 35


Project
● Can be pre-cursor to FYP
● High grade points (more value)
● 2 students per group
● Emphasis will be over quality of product
● Deliverable will be posted to Google Play
Store for public viewing with SZABIST
account


Other Requirements
● Join Google Group:
○ SZABIST-FALL2012-ANDROID
● Installation of Eclipse IDE & Android SDK
Tools. (Before coming week).
● Install all SDKs preferably (2.1, 2.2 & 4).
● An android device. (Optional but highly
recommended)


Books
Textbook:
● Beginning Android 4 by Grant Allen (Apress)

Reference:
● http://developer.android.com/


Android Overview & Evolution
1. Android history
2. Basic technical specification
3. Supported platforms for development


1. Android History
● Started by Android Inc. in 2005, which had
been financed by Google, though initial
developer wasn't part of Google.
● In 2007 Google bought Android Inc. & also
formed OHA (Open Handset Alliance).
● Android beta was released in Nov 2007.
● Android v1.0 was released in Sep 2008.
● HTC Dream had been first commercial
android device.
● Current android version is 4.1 (Jellybeans).

What is Open Handset Alliance?
● A consortium of 84 hardware, software and
telecommunication companies.
● Devoted to advancing open standards for
mobile devices.
● Include top names,
○ Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, NEC, Asus, Lenovo,
Sharp, Huawei, ZTE and many more in handset manufacturers.
○ Intel, ARM, NVIDIA, MIPS, Texas Instruments and many other in semiconductors.
○ NTT Docomo, Sprint, T-mobile, Vodafone, Telus, China Mobile and others in mobile
operators.
○ Google, eBay, SVOX, NXP, Access and others in software companies.
○ Accenture, Teleca, Wipro and many others in marketing or commercialization.


2. Basic Technical Specs
● Linux based kernel
● Open source model under Apache 2
liscence.
● Supports ARM, MIPS & x86 architectures
● Monolithic kernel
● Programmed in C, C++, Python, Java.


What is monolithic kernel?


3. Development Platforms
● Supported OS for Android Development:
○ Windows XP(32-bit), Vista or 7(32 or 64-bit)
○ MacOSX 10.5.8 or later (x86 only)
○ Linux (Ubuntu, Lucid Lynx)
■ glibc 2.7
■ 32-bit
■ In case of ubuntu version must be greater than
8.04
● IDEs
○ Eclipse IDE with JDT (Highly recommended)
○ Netbeans IDE (Via Android plugin)
○ IntelliJ IDEA (Still in early preview stage)

Android Architecture
● Android Ecosystem is composed of following
4 items:
○ Linux Kernel
○ Libraries
○ Applications Framework
○ Applications
● Pictorial representation in next slide will
clear it up more.


Linux Kernel

● Its customized linux kernel with a lot more
android specific code to support devices.
● Driver written for one version of android
(like 2.3.5 for instance) won't necessarily
work with other versions (4.0 for instance).
● One of the kernel's main function is to
control hardware.

Linux Kernel
● You could re-compile the android kernel if
you want to.
● Advantage of tweaking the kernel can result
in higher optimized speeds or optimized
battery power, depending upon which
governor you select, you must exactly know
what you're doing.
● Tweaking android kernel is something you
could do in your spare time and see how
amazingly you can manipulate hardware.

Libraries


Libraries
● C/C++ Libraries (Bionic libc):
○ Derivation of standard C library
○ Specifically targeted for Android
○ Much smaller than libc & uClibc
○ High speed as its designed for low clock-cycle
oriented CPUs
○ Lacks many features of original libc (eg. Exception
handling etc.)
○ Can be directly extended or accessed using Android
NDK (Native Development Kit).


Libraries
● LibWebCore:
○ Modern web browser engine used in both webview
as well as native browser.
○ Support CSS, Javascript, DOM, Ajax etc.
● Media framework:
○ PacketVideo, openCORE platform.
○ Support Audio, Video, Still-frame formats.
● SQLite:
○ Self-contained
○ Serverless
○ Zero-configuration
○ SQL Database

Libraries
● OpenGL|ES(openGL for Embedded
Systems):
○ Standard specification for 2D/3D graphics
○ Can simulate physics
○ Complex 3D scenes can be drawn
○ Used in:
■ Virtual reality
■ Augmented reality
■ Game programming
■ Scientific visualization
■ Flight simulation


Libraries
● Surface Manager:
○ Manages access to display subsystem
○ Seamlessly composites graphic layers 2D/3D layers
from different applications
● SGL (Skia graphic library):
○ An underlying 2D graphics engine
○ Used to draw text, geometries & images
● SSL (Secure Sockets Layer):
○ Cryptographic protocol to provide information
security over internet.


Libraries
● FreeType:
○ Bitmap and vector font rendering.


Android Runtime


Dalvik Virtual Machine
● Custom implementation of virtual machine
for android:
○ Provides application portability and runtime
consistency.
○ Runs optimized file format (.dex) and Dalvik
bytecode.
○ Java .class/.jar files are converted to .dex at build
time.


Dalvik Vs Java Virtual Machine

Dalvik VM Java VM
It is a register machine. It is a stack machine.
More closely resembles actual Rely on excessive copying of
hardware design. values and larger instruction set.
Produces Dalvik Executable. Produces Java Bytecode.
Owned & maintaned by Google Maintained by Oracle.
Inc.


Core Libraries
● Core APIs for Java language, yet simple and
familiar development platforms
○ Data structures
○ File Access
○ Graphics
○ Network Access
○ Utilities
● All major APIs available under J2SE are
available under android plus its own
libraries.

Applications Framework


Application Framework

● Activity Manager:
○ Interact with overall activities running in the system.
○ Manage lifecycle of activities.
○ Manage stacking of activities.
● Window Manager:
○ Dispatch input events to clients.
○ Transition animation.
○ Create layout/surfaces (using SurfaceManager).
● Content Providers:
○ Manage access to structured access of data.
○ Mainly used for data sharing purposes.



● View System:
○ Basic building block for UI components.
○ Can be extended to build custom UI components.
● Package Manager:
○ Provides methods for querying and manipulating
installed packages.
● Telephony Manager:
○ Provides access to telephony services on android.
○ Can monitor telephone state changes.



● Location Manager:
○ Provide access to system location services.
○ Able to track location periodically or one-time.
● Resource Manager:
○ Link external resources to native app at build time.
○ Resources may include XML Layouts, Bitmaps, raw
files etc.
● Notification Manager:
○ Notify users about events.


Applications


Example Applications
● Following applications are to show you what sort
of applications can be made for android and how
you can utilize features of this platform to create
innovative and powerful applications.


Augmented Reality - Live
● Let's have a look at live example of Augmented
reality application.


Android Vs Other Platforms

Option Android iPhone WM
NFC (Near Field Communication) YES NO NO
ADK (Accessory Development Kit) YES YES (iOS5+) NO
Multitasking YES YES (iOS4+) YES
Call Control YES YES (Jailbreak only) NO
High Performance Computing YES YES NO
Interface Customization YES NO NO
Firmware Upgrade YES YES YES


Detailed Insights


Conclusion
● Android is a strong platform to develop on with
growth rate expected to reach peaks this year.
● More than half of the smartphone market is
covered by Android making it more than 25% of
the total mobile phone market share holder.


Next Class
● Complete Java Review will revisit OOP concepts.
● Design patterns which will be used in android
development.


Questions
● Any Questions?


Developing Applications for Android - Lecture#1

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