Introduction
Smartphones and tablets touchscreen would not have been possible without Android. Android is a set of programs to interact with the hardware of smartphones and tablets. A well-defined set of programs that interact with the hardware of a computer or mobile devices are collectively known as Operating systems. Thus, the Android Operating system has rich libraries to interact with mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
What programming language android apps require? Android is developed from the Linux kernel and other related software. Since Linux is free and open-source, so do the Android operating system. The rich libraries of the Android operating system are also known as Android Open Source Project (AOSP). The term/name Android and its corresponding logo is copyrighted to Google.
Android develops games, digital cameras, media players, and software to interact with personal computers.
Android is rated as the best operating system and used on a large volume of mobile devices. First, Android was developed to interact with digital cameras. Later, Android was used to develop software capable of interacting with mobile devices such as Smartphones and Tablets.
At first, Android was used to interact with the mobile device with a touchscreen, but later, Android specifications were changed to interact with the touch screens.
Android is continuously evolving, and new features are adding to the new version of Android.
What makes Android – Android
Android was used to develop a user interface to take input by touching the screen. Android developed user interaction by swiping, tapping, pinching, and other interactions to manipulate the objects on the mobile device’s screen.
Android is capable of delivering fluid touch screen displays and alerting the user by vibrating mobile devices. In addition, Android was used to develop mobile applications such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and proximity sensors that enabled mobile device users to work more efficiently. These applications were developed to sense device position and take actions accordingly.
Android is used to develop the home screens of mobile devices. The home screen has a set of app icons and widgets. Mobile devices are capable of displaying current and forecast weather using applications that are developed on Android.
The status bar of mobile devices displaying mobile connectivity and other quick-access controls were fully developed on Android. In addition, all the notifications that are displayed on mobile devices are developed using Android features.
Features such as drag and drop on mobile screens are developed on Android. Different Android versions implement these features in different ways making user interaction meaningful and friendly.
Other features supported by Android are Navigation controls, Split-screen, and applications responsible for changing the mobile devices developed on Android.
Android devices are equipped with google apps such as Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Play.
Android Langauge
Most of the applications used on Android devices are developed using Android Software Development Kit (SDK). In addition, the Android Software Development Kit is used in association with the Kotlin programming language.
Kotlin replaced Java, but Java is still in use. Kotlin is often combined with the C/C++ programming language. C++ is capable of delivering better runtime Android support. Few of the application programming support is given by the Go programming language.
The Android Software Development Kit contains many development tools such as debuggers, emulators, example programs and tutorials. The tools that are used on Android devices are developed on Eclipse, which is a Java editor.
Many of the applications used on mobile devices are developed on a native development kit. The native development kit is capable of providing applications developed using C and C++.
Another application development environment that is used is Google App Inventor. The Google App Inventor is a visual environment that can be sued with other frameworks capable of developing mobile applications and are platform-independent.
HTML 5 is also used in used for developing Android applications.
All the files in Android Operating System are maintained and managed by File manager applications. To maintain and manage the file system of the Android operating system is Android 6 Marshmallow. The file system is managed under the name DocumentUI. DocumentUI comes as a part of the Android Operating System. Marshmallow is also used to manage and maintain adoptable storage. The Marshmallow is capable of maintaining and managing memory cards and internal storage. File management is done by Marshmallow and supports data recovery.
Kotlin Programming Language
Kotlin is a programming language that is used for platform-independent applications, Kotlin work in association with Java. The Kotlin library largely depends on Java Class Library. Kotlin can work with React to develop Android Applications.
Programs written in Kotlin can be directly compiled to Javascript. Kotlin is an Object-Oriented language.
In Kotlin, programming instructions are terminated using a semicolon. Variable declaration in kotlin is the same as that done in Pascal and BASIC. However, variables in kotlin cannot be modified and are declared using the var keyword. If the variable is declared with the keyword var, then this variable can be modified.
Since Kotlin is an Object-Oriented Programming language, all the class members are declared with the public access specifier, and classes are final.
Kolin programs are also written using the procedural programming paradigm. In Kotlin, functions can be declared and have the same capability as those of C and C++.
Kotlin functions can have arguments and support function overloading. In addition, members of the class can be virtual.
In Kotlin, React applications can be developed.
Kotlin Syntax
In Kotlin, static methods and functions can be declared. These static objects and functions build the top hierarchy of the package. To work with Java, all the class names must be annotated with JvmName.
All the programs in Kotlin must have a “main” function, the same as in C and C++. This main function can contain command-line arguments. In Kotlin, additional functions can be added without inheriting the class. This functionality is the same as that of the functionality in C#.
An extension function in Kotlin can access public interfaces defined in a class. An extension function is the same as that of the function declared in a class.
Kotlin supports spread operators. The spread operator is used to unpack the content of the array. Kotline can declare objects having key-value pairs. Kotline decomposes objects having key-value pairs. Kotlin also allows function nesting.
Kotline supports inheritance. A new class can be derived from the base class. To accomplish inheritance base class should be marked as “open”. In other Object-Oriented programming languages such as Java and C++, all classes are open by default.
Kotlin also supports abstract class. Abstract class contains pure virtual functions. Pure virtual functions are those whose definition is given in the derived class. All the classes in Kotlin are public. Kotlin supports public, internal, protected, and private access specifiers.
All the class members declared as the public is visible throughout the program. Class members declared as internal is accessible with the module. All class members having access specifier protected is accessible within the subclasses. Finally, all class members declared as private is accessible within the class itself.
Kotlin has a primary constructor. The primary constructor in Kotlin is declared in the class definition itself. The primary constructor can contain arguments. These arguments are declared with the class definition following the class name. In addition, the properties of the class can be declared within the primary constructor. For example, attributes such as visibility, extensibility and mutability can be declared within the primary constructors.
If more than one constructor is required, then a secondary constructor can be used. The functionality and declaration of the secondary constructor are the same as that of the constructor in C++, C#, and Java.
Kotlin supports data classes. The functionality of the data classes is to store data. The data class is the same as that of the normal class. The only difference between data class and normal class is that it has inherent functions such as equals, toString, and hashCode. The keyword data is used to specify that the class is Data Class. Data class may not contain body but, if required, may contain methods or secondary constructors.
It is also possible to use Kotlin as a script. Thus it may also work as a scripting language. Kotlin is one of the most widely used programming languages for Android development. There are many apps of Google that are developed in Kotline.
Google, Amazon, OLX etc., are using Kotline for backend development.
C++
C++ is an object-oriented programming language used in the development of Android applications. C++ is used in the Android Native Development Kit (NDz). The NDK is used to implement the programming constructs of C++ to be used in Android. NDK act as a bridge to implement C++ code libraries.
The C++ code can target Android and can be used to generate Native-Activity. Moreover, C++ can be executed at a fast speed. Therefore, C++ is used on different operating systems, and for the development of mobile games, to create web browsers, and different medical applications are being developed in C++.
Many mobile applications used in the banking sector, manufacturing industries and other related industries are developed using C++.
C#
C# offers the same functionality as that of Java. In addition, c # has inbuilt programming constructs that make it memory safe and type-safe.
C# depends on Windows Operating System as it targets the .NET framework. To use on Android C# comes with Xamarin. Xamrain makes the C# program platform-independent and makes it usable on Android.
In C#, mobile games can be developed and are largely used on windows mobile phones. Moreover, it is a vivid language that can be used to create applications in various market scenarios.
Xamarin.Android is used to develop Android based applications to be used on smartphones. Xamarin was developed to enable developers to write platform-independent applications.
The Xamarin.Android contains Mono runtime, C# compiler embedded on Mono, dynamic binder, and AST graph.
Xamarin.iOS, and Xamarin.Android both are used to develop applications that can be used on iPhone and Android-based smartphones. Xamarin.iOS enables software developers to create C# and .NET applications targeting iPhone, iPod, and iPad devices.
Xamarin.iOS contains Compilers, NET libraries, Development SDK, and Xamarin studio IDE.
Python
Python can also be used to develop an application for Android. Tools are used to convert Python code to mobile applications based on Android to be used on Android mobiles.
Kivy is an open-source library supported by Python to develop mobile applications to be used on Android mobiles.
Kivi applications can be used in Android. Therefore, Kivi APKs are compatible with Android mobile devices and are can access most of the Java API.
The Kivy projects can be executed on Android. Kivi is a framework developed in Python, but it has tools that have access to Java APIs. Applications that can vibrate your mobiles, applications that can sense and take actions, and applications that can send messages using SMS and e-mail can be developed on Python Kivy.
Pyjnius is a Python module that can access Java classes and convert Java outcomes to Python. Pyjnius is downloadable from Github. In addition, Pyjnius has the capability of implementing Java interfaces.
Android APIs can also be accessed using Python-for-Android libraries. Python-for-Android libraries implement Java interfaces.
Plyer is another platform-independent API that can act as a bridge without considering the platform or operating system.
HTML+CSS+JavaScript
HTML+CSS+Javascript can also be used to develop Android mobile applications. The PhoneGap framework of Adobe can be used to develop Android applications.
The PhoneGap framework is of Adobe and can be used to develop Android applications. In addition, the PhoneGap framework does not require complex programming except for Javascript.
PhoneGap is a framework that is open source. This framework can be used to develop applications that can run on Android, iOS, Windows mobile etc.
This framework contains a bridge to establish the connection between native APIs to the web view. This framework is based on technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
The Phonegap framework is cost-efficient, time-efficient, and effort efficient. This framework is used on ViziApps, Worklight, and AppMobi.
To use the PhoneGap framework, it is required to have working experience with HTML, CSS, and JScript.
PhoneGap is used to develop applications that are used on almost most of the mobile operating systems. Moreover, this framework is free and open-source.
The PhoneGap framework is capable of handling mobile portability issues. For example, the PhoneGap can convert data contents to be converted into different App files.
Conclusion
Android programming languages are used to develop applications that can interact with mobile devices standing on Android Operating System. Different applications can be developed that can be used on Android Mobile Phones. These applications can be developed using different languages such as Kotline, Java, and C++ languages.
Kotline, C++, C#, and Python are programming languages that work on Android Software Development Kit. The Android Software Development Kit (SDK) has a well-defined set of tools that can be used to develop mobile applications.
A lot of applications has been developed that belong to different business sectors. For example, an application such as AdAway and Adblock is used to block Advertisements, Applications such as Brave, Chromium, DuckDuckGo, Firefox etc., applications used for browsing the internet on mobile phones.
Applications such as ownCloud, Nextcloud etc., are used on mobile devices to access office suits.
Applications such as CoonetBot, Jitsi, k-9 Mail, Element, and WordPress are used on Android mobile phones that can be used for communication.
Applications such as APG, IVPN, Jami, Lantern, Orbot, Signal, Tox, Wire etc are used as security applications.
Applications such as Dolphin, RetroArch, Vice, Citra etc., act as emulators.
Games that are used on mobile phones are developed using the languages discussed above. In addition, mobile games such as Angband, Brogue, Freeciv, Frozen Bubble, OpenArena, OpenTTD etc., are used on Android platforms.
The mobile applications can be categorized into Naive apps, Hybrid apps, and Progressive web applications.
Native applications target specific operating systems. So an application developed specifically for iOS and Android requires iOS and Android operating systems on mobile devices.
Android is an open-source operating system for touch screen mobile devices marketed by Google.
Android studio is one of the best-integrated development environments.
Kotline is considered one of the best languages for developing applications targeting the Android Operating System.
