Developing for Android

Developing for Android Erik Nykl

Developing for Android • History of Mobile • Why Android? • Mobile Development Process • Writing Code! • Android API (Google’s Java library) • Use Hardware • Embedded Java & Code Efficiency

Mobile History • Motorola DynaTAC 8000X • Released in 1983 • First mobile phone • 30 minute talk time • Cost only $4000 • Rudy Krolopp • Lead Designer Picture: http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050408/050408_motorola_firstphone_vmed4p.grid-4x2.jpg

Mobile History • First PDA: Apple Newton released in 1993 (original iPad) • Hand writing recognition • Only three applications • Notes • Names • Dates • Product was a big flop Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Apple_Newton.jpg/368px-Apple_Newton.jpg

Mobile History • 2000 – Nokia/Ericsson releases Symbian OS • 2001 – Microsoft announces Windows CE Pocket PC OS • 2002 – Palm OS Treo • Allowed third-party applications that could be downloaded • 2002 – RIM releases first BlackBerry

Mobile History • 2007 – A major year in mobile • Early 2007 - Nokia N95 • First phone with WiFi, GPS, 5 MP camera, 3G, and TV-Out • Mid 2007 – Apple iPhone • First multi-touch interface for smart phone • Best mobile web browser at the time • No OFFICIAL support for third party apps • iOS 1.0 • November 2007 – Open Handset Alliance • OHA was formed • Android – An open source operating system built on the 2.6 Linux Kernel was released

Why Android? • Android is the fastest growing mobile operating system • In the Summer 2010 nearly 200,000 Android devices activated each day • Android has the fastest growing App Store (Android Market) • Android WILL be the dominant smart phone OS • Open source and freer application development • Open platform - hardware manufacturers can do whatever they want and competition has decreased hardware dev cycle (down to 6 months; Apple has yearly releases) • http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1543014 • http://www.canalys.com/pr/2011/r2011013.html

Why Android? • Apple has first “successful” App Store • Development is done in Objective-C • IDE: XCode • Apple requires $99 to develop for the iPhone • Apple screens each App and can remove an App from the store at any time for any reason • “Guilty until proven innocent” • Apple can also blacklist your name and account • Apple takes 30% of each sale • Development pretty much requires a Mac

Why Android? • Android’s App Store: Android Market • Development done in Java • IDE: Preferred Eclipse, Netbeans, …, or none • Totally supportive for multiplatform development • $25 developer signup fee • Unfortunately also take 30% of sale price • Relies on users to screen apps • “Innocent until proven guilty” • Open hardware platform

Mobile Software Process • How can we develop for mobile applications? • Will traditional development methods work? • Waterfall, RAD, Spiral, Incremental • How about Agile? • Mobile App Requirements • Shall be easy to use • Shall be responsive (OS & User) • Shall be delivered quickly to market

Mobile Software Process • Mobile applications have a larger domain than desktop based applications • Not just a number crunching app • Informational Services • Content-based services • Location-based services

Mobile Software Process • New challenges for developers • Wireless communication issues • Switching from 3G to WiFi and back to 3G • Mobility issues • Location dependent app looses GPS signal • Portability • New OS every year with updates every 3-6 months • Dozens of different hardware setups • New hardware every 6 months • Privacy • Phone knows much more about you than your credit card information

Mobile Software Process • A Hybrid Method Engineering Approach for Mobile Software Development • Vahid Rahimian, Raman Ramsin • Developed using a process for making processes (Method Engineering)

Writing Code! • Finally, coding! • Almost

Writing Code! • Some fundamentals • http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html

Writing Code! • So what all do we need? • Android SDK • Netbeans with Android plugin • Probably want some Android hardware • Don’t necessarily have to get a developer account quite yet

Writing Code! • AndroidManifest.xml • Every application MUST have this file in the root directory (don’t worry, usually created for you) • Describes what stuff the app will use • Libraries, minimum API level, declares which permissions the app needs • http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html

Writing Code! • It IS Java right? • Yes, basically. Close enough at least. • Dalvik is the custom JVM for Android • Written by Dan Bornstein originally • Named after a village in Eyjafjörður, Iceland where some of his ancestors lived • Uses its own byte code (not Java byte code) • Uses its own library (no AWT or Swing) • As of Android 2.2 a JIT Compilier was added (speed increases of up to 450%!)

Writing Code! • Good Practice • If something is going to take a long time spawn a thread! • http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/design/responsiveness.html

Hardware • http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/Sensor.html • http://developer.android.com/reference/android/hardware/SensorManager.html • Accelerometer examplehttp://www.anddev.org/accessing_the_accelerometer-t499.html

Embedded Java and Code Efficiency • You are coding in an embedded environment! • Limited memory, disk space, battery length, and limited CPU power • http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/design/performance.html

Development Resources • http://www.anddev.org/ • http://developer.android.com/

References • http://developer.android.com/guide/index.html • Book: Beginning Android 2; Mark L. Murphy • http://www.anddev.org/ • Rahimian, V.; Ramsin, R.; , "Designing an agile methodology for mobile software development: A hybrid method engineering approach," Research Challenges in Information Science, 2008. RCIS 2008. Second International Conference on , vol., no., pp.337-342, 3-6 June 2008doi: 10.1109/RCIS.2008.4632123URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4632123&isnumber=4632084

Developing for Android