My first Android talk way back in 2010. Covering the foundation of the Android OS and SDK, this talk aimed at giving the audience a starting point to begin developing Android apps.

1. Mobile App
Development
using Android
SDK
Josh Clemm
October 27, 2010

2. Agenda
● Overview of Android
● Overview of Android App framework
● Application Development walkthrough
● Demos!

3. What is Android?
● Complete software stack for mobile
devices
● Operating system based
on Linux
● Middleware
● Mobile applications
● Developed by Google
● The Android SDK
● Provides tools and APIs to develop apps in
Java

4. LINUX KERNEL
LIBRARIES ANDROID RUNTIME
APPLICATION FRAMEWORK
APPLICATIONS
Home Contacts Phone Browser …
Activity
Manager
Window
Manager
Content
Providers
View System
Package
Manager
Telephony
Manager
Resource
Manager
Location
Manager
Notification
Manager
Surface
Manager
Media
Framework
SQLite
OpenGL | ES FreeType WebKit
libcSSLSGL
Core
Libraries
Dalvik Virtual
Machine
Display
Driver
Camera
Driver
Flash Memory
Driver
Binder (IPC)
Driver
Keypad
Driver
Wifi
Driver
Audio
Drivers
Power
Management

5. Linux Kernel
● Android relies on core Linux 2.6
services
● Security
● Memory management
● Process management
● Network stack
● Driver model
LINUX KERNEL
Display
Driver
Camera
Driver
Flash Memory
Driver
Binder (IPC)
Driver
Keypad
Driver
Wifi
Driver
Audio
Drivers
Power
Management

6. Android libraries
● C library (Bionic)
● Media libraries
● LibWebCore – web browser engine
● SGL – 2G graphics engine
● 3D libraries – based on OpenGL ES 1.0
● FreeType – bitmap/vector rendering
● SQLite relational database
LIBRARIES
Surface
Manager
Media
Framework
SQLite OpenGL | ES
FreeType WebKit libc SSL

7. Android Runtime
● Provides most of the
functionality of Java’s libraries
● Apps run in its own process
within its own Dalvik VM
● Optimized for minimal memory
● Register-based vs. stack-based
● JIT compilation
ANDROID RUNTIME
Core
Libraries
Dalvik Virtual
Machine
Java Source
Code
Java Byte Code
Dalvik Byte
Code
Dalvik
Executable
Dalvik VM

8. APPLICATION FRAMEWORK
Application Framework
● Open/consistent development platform
● Activity Manager controls lifecycle of app
● Access location information
● Run background services, add
notifications to the status bar, and more…
Activity
Manager
Window
Manager
Content
Providers
View System
Package
Manager
Telephony
Manager
Resource
Manager
Location
Manager
Notification
Manager

9. Android Applications
● Let’s walkthrough…
● Installing what you need
● Writing your app
● Layouts, Logic, and Images
● Testing and debugging with
emulator/device
● Publishing to App Market

10. Android Applications
● How to get started
● Install Java 5 or 6
● Download Android SDK
● (Optional) Install Eclipse IDE
● (Optional) Install Android Eclipse Plugin (ADT)
● The ADT plugin can manage installs of various
Android versions.
● It’s easy to get the latest releases

11. App Development
● Come up with an idea
● Determine the layout of the screens
● Code logic
● Customize look and feel

12. App Development - Layouts

13. App Development - Logic
● An activity can represent one screen
● There’s an activity lifecycle: onCreate(),
onStart(), onResume(), onPause(), onStop(),
onDestroy()
● An activity can have multiple views
● Tabs, lists, a map

14. App Development – running
● Use built-in
emulator
● Mimic any target
device
● Slow and can’t do
everything
● Run on Device
● Fast, debuggable

15. Demos
● Cool things like
● Embedded map views
● Embedded web views
● Using location
● Using accelerometer

16. Questions?

17. Resources
● http://www.openhandsetalliance.
com/android_overview.html
● http://developer.android.
com/guide/basics/what-is-android.html
● http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Android_%
28operating_system%29
● Myself

18. Backup Slides

19. Publishing and beyond
● Before publishing remember…
● Create an icon
● Be able to support multiple screen sizes
● Be able to support multiple OS versions
● You might want to support multiple
languages

20. Publishing and beyond
● Sign your apps
● Add your App to Android Market
● Also possible to use third-party app
markets
● Register as an Android developer ($25)
● Upload and watch the downloads fly!

21. Security And Permissions
● No App has permission to do anything
that would impact another app
● Apps run in its own process
● It’s a secure sandbox
● Permissions required are declared
before a user installs the app

22. Filesystem and Database
● Each app has its own unique file system
on the phone’s internal memory
● App preferences, databases, flat files
reside there
● The SD card is a better resource for
storing larger files (like for a game)

23. Android Resources
/res folder R.java
Android package
Your code
ADT generates
Reference
Constants
Runtime

24. App Components
● Reusable components
● Views – GUI widgets like lists, grids, text
boxes, embedded web browser
● Content providers – access data from other
apps (Contacts)
● Resource manager – access to non-code
resources (graphics, layouts, strings)
● Activity manager – lifecycle of apps