Chapter 6

Getting Started with Android

WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?

  • Deciding to target Android as your mobile platform
  • Getting the tools you need to develop Android
  • Creating a new project
  • Creating the Derby project in Android

Android Inc. was initially started in 2003, out of a frustration with the smartphone market as it existed at the time. It was acquired by Google in 2005.

The hardware side of Android is supported by the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which is a conglomeration of many handset manufacturers, and the software is maintained by the Android Open Source Project, which is led by Google.

Android had its first major release in late 2008; the first major phone company to support it was T-Mobile, and the original handset was the HTC Dream (G1).

The Android OS was built on a modified Linux kernel and applications are written in Java. By using Java as the development framework for the applications, Android enables you to develop your application on all major platforms.

By leveraging the Eclipse IDE, Android affords the user almost the exact same user experience for development on all major OS platforms.

Additionally, when researching Android you may come across the name Dalvik. It is the virtual machine that runs on the Android device, and your applications run within it. What does this mean to developers? Because your applications run inside this virtual space, it provides a level of security to the base OS. Also, Dalvik has been designed with performance in mind. As of Android ...

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