Basic Terminologies of Android

BASIC TERMINOLOGIES OF ANDROID

Android is an ‘Open-source’ operating system used to develop an application for mobile devices. It is a Linux based operating system. Initially, it was tenured by ‘Open alliance handset’ and in 2007 it was occupied by google. The source code published by Google is under the Apache License version 2.0. Android smartphones are used by millions of people worldwide. Under researches, researchers say that around 3 million people are using an android smartphone. The android application completely transforms the way to communicate and interact with each other even in the miles of distance.

Architecture of Android

The android architecture is the combination of four layers. However, one layer is partitioned into two sections so, it consists of five sections in all.

• LINUX KERNEL:

  It is the lowest layer of android architecture. It serves as the abstraction between the hardware level of the device and contains all the required hardware drivers.

• LIBRARIES:

  It holds libraries for storing the data along the libraries uses for internet security purposes.

• ANDROID RUNTIME:

  This section has the libraries which enable the developer to write the code of android application using any standard programming language.

• APPLICATION FRAMEWORK:

  It is the third layer. It serves the services to the application layer in the form of java classes.

• Application:

  It is the foremost layer that is used to install the applications in the devices.

Essential Tools for android application development

The most important tools required for application development are:

• JDK: Java Development kit that is the combination of two premier tools JAVA VIRTUAL MACHINE and JAVA RUNTIME ENVIRONMENT. It helps in compiling and running the java program.
• ANDROID STUDIO: The primary goal to introduce the android studio is to develop the android applications in the most stable tool. At first android applications were developed in eclipse but, app developers face multiple issues in eclipse. Then in 2007, google brings the android studio that is used particularly introduced for android.

Terminologies Correlated to Android

• XML file

  The preeminent file is used for the structure of an android project. It has complete information about all the components and packages. It initializes the API that is further used by an application.

• View

  It is the component of the User Interface that occupies the rectangular area on the screen.

• Layout

  It properly aligned the views on the screen.

• Activity

  Activity is a User interface screen through which the user interacts. Users have a right to place the UI elements in any way according to the Users choice.

• Emulator  

  The emulator is the virtual device smartphone provided with an android studio. You can run your created application on the emulator and test its UI and function according to the needs.

• Intent  

  It acts as a communicating object. You can establish a communication between two or more than two components as services, broadcast receivers. It is used to start and end the activity and services components.

• Services  

  It is used to run the process even in the background. There is no defined UI for service. Any component can start the service and end the services. You can easily switch between the applications even if the services are running the background.

• Content Provider

  It implemented in two ways:

1. You can use implement the existing content provider in your application. 
2. However, you can also create a new content provider that will provide or share the data with other applications.

There are some basic terminologies used in android. Apart from the mentioned terminologies, there are other terms which will frequently use with the android. Once you start learning android, there are a lot of attributes from which you will become aware soon.