关于Android的外文文献.docx

关于Android的外文文献.docx

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关于Android的外文文献

附件A外文文献（英文）

Android:

AProgrammer’sGuide

1WhatIsAndroid

1.1KeySkills&Concepts

●Historyofembeddeddeviceprogramming

●ExplanationofOpenHandsetAlliance

●FirstlookattheAndroidhomescreen

Itcanbesaidthat,forawhile,traditionaldesktopapplicationdevelopershavebeenspoiled.Thisisnottosaythattraditionaldesktopapplicationdevelopmentiseasierthanotherformsofdevelopment.However,astraditionaldesktopapplicationdevelopers,wehavehadtheabilitytocreatealmostanykindofapplicationwecanimagine.IamincludingmyselfinthisgroupingbecauseIgotmystartindesktopprogramming.

Oneaspectthathasmadedesktopprogrammingmoreaccessibleisthatwehavehadtheabilitytointeractwiththedesktopoperatingsystem,andthusinteractwithanyunderlyinghardware,prettyfreely（oratleastwithminimalexceptions）.Thiskindoffreedomtoprogramindependently,however,hasneverreallybeenavailabletothesmallgroupofprogrammerswhodaredtoventureintothemurkywatersofcellphonedevelopment.

NOTE：

Irefertotwodifferentkindsofdevelopersinthisdiscussion:

traditionaldesktopapplicationdevelopers,whoworkinalmostanylanguageandwhoseendproduct,applications,arebuilttorunonany“desktop”operatingsystem;andAndroiddevelopers,JavadeveloperswhodevelopfortheAndroidplatform.Thisisnotforthepurposesofsayingoneisbyanymeansbetterorworsethantheother.Rather,thedistinctionismadeforpurposesofcomparingthedevelopmentstylesandtoolsofdesktopoperatingsystemenvironmentstothemobileoperatingsystemenvironment,

1.2BriefHistoryofEmbeddedDeviceProgramming

Foralongtime,cellphonedeveloperscomprisedasmallsectofaslightlylargergroupofdevelopersknownasembeddeddevicedevelopers.Seenasaless“glamorous”siblingtodesktop—andlaterweb—development,embeddeddevicedevelopmenttypicallygottheproverbialshortendofthestickasfarashardwareandoperatingsystemfeatures,becauseembeddeddevicemanufacturerswerenotoriouslystingyonfeaturesupport.

Embeddeddevicemanufacturerstypicallyneededtoguardtheirhardwaresecretsclosely,sotheygaveembeddeddevicedevelopersfewlibrariestocallwhentryingtointeractwithaspecificdevice.Embeddeddevicesdifferfromdesktopsinthatanembeddeddeviceistypicallya“computeronachip.”Forexample,consideryourstandardtelevisionremotecontrol;itisnotreallyseenasanoverwhelmingachievementoftechnologicalcomplexity.Whenanybuttonispressed,achipinterpretsthesignalinawaythathasbeenprogrammedintothedevice.Thisallowsthedevicetoknowwhattoexpectfromtheinputdevice（keypad）,andhowtorespondtothosecommands（forexample,turnonthetelevision）.Thisisasimpleformofembeddeddeviceprogramming.However,believeitornot,simpledevicessuchasthesearedefinitelyrelatedtotherootsofearlycellphonedevicesanddevelopment.

Mostembeddeddevicesran（andinsomecasesstillrun）proprietaryoperatingsystems.Thereasonforchoosingtocreateaproprietaryoperatingsystemratherthanuseanyconsumersystemwasreallyaproductofnecessity.Simpledevicesdidnotneedveryrobustandoptimizedoperatingsystems.

Asaproductofdeviceevolution,manyofthemorecomplexembeddeddevices,suchasearlyPDAs,householdsecuritysystems,andGPSs,movedtosomewhatstandardizedoperatingsystemplatformsaboutfiveyearsago.Small-footprintoperatingsystemssuchasLinux,orevenanembeddedversionofMicrosoftWindows,havebecomemoreprevalentonmanyembeddeddevices.Aroundthistimeindeviceevolution,cellphonesbranchedfromotherembeddeddevicesontotheirownpath.Thisbranchingisevidentwhenyouexaminetheirarchitecture.

Nearlysincetheirinception,cellphoneshavebeenfringedevicesinsofarastheyrunonproprietarysoftware—softwarethatisownedandcontrolledbythemanufacturer,andisalmostalwaysconsideredtobea“closed”system.Thepracticeofmanufacturersusingproprietaryoperatingsystemsbeganmoreoutofnecessitythananyotherreason.Thatis,cellphonemanufacturerstypicallyusedhardwarethatwascompletelydevelopedin-house,oratleasthardwarethatwasspecificallydevelopedforthepurposesofrunningcellphoneequipment.Asaresult,therewerenoopenlyavailable,off-the-shelfsoftwarepackagesorsolutionsthatwouldreliablyinteractwiththeirhardware.Sincethemanufacturersalsowantedtoguardverycloselytheirhardwaretradesecrets,someofwhichcouldberevealedbyallowingaccesstothesoftwarelevelofthedevice,thecommonpracticewas,andinmostcasesstillis,tousecompletelyproprietaryandclosedsoftwaretoruntheirdevices.Thedownsidetothisisthatanyonewhowantedtodevelopapplicationsforcellphonesneededtohaveintimateknowledgeoftheproprietaryenvironmentwithinwhichitwastorun.Thesolutionwastopurchaseexpensivedevelopmenttoolsdirectlyfromthemanufacturer.Thisisolatedmanyofthe“homebrew”developers.

NOTE：

Agrowingcultureofhomebrewdevelopershasembracedcellphoneapplicationdevelopment.Theterm“homebrew”referstothefactthatthesedeveloperstypicallydonotworkforacellphonedevelopmentcompanyandgenerallyproducesmall,one-offproductsontheirowntime.

Another,morecompelling“necessity”thatkeptcellphonedevelopmentoutofthehandsoftheeverydaydeveloperwasthehardwaremanufacturers’solutiontothe“memoryversusneed”dilemma.Untilrecently,cellphonesdidlittlemorethanexecuteandreceivephonecalls,trackyourcontacts,andpossiblysendandreceiveshorttextmessages;notreallythe“Swissarmyknives”oftechnologytheyaretoday.Evenaslateas2002,cellphoneswithcameraswerenotcommonlyfoundinthehandsofconsumers.

By1997,smallapplicationssuchascalculatorsandgames（Tetris,forexample）crepttheirwayontocellphones,buttheoverwhelmingfunctionwasstillthatofaphonedialeritself.Cellphoneshadnotyetbecomethemultiuse,multifunctionpersonaltoolstheyaretoday.NooneyetsawtheneedforInternetbrowsing,MP3playing,oranyofthemultitudesoffunctionsweareaccustomedtousingtoday.Itispossiblethatthecellphonemanufacturersof1997didnotfullyperceivetheneedconsumerswouldhaveforanall-in-onedevice.However,eveniftheneedwaspresent,alackofdevicememoryandstoragecapacitywasanevenbiggerobstacletoovercome.Morepeoplemayhavewantedtheirdevicestobeall-in-onetools,butmanufacturersstillhadtoclimbthememoryhurdle.

Toputtheproblemsimply,ittakesmemorytostoreandrunapplicationsonanydevice,cellphonesincluded.Cellphones,asadevice,untilrecentlydidnothavetheamountofmemoryavailabletothemthatwouldfacilitatetheinclusionof“extra”programs.Withinthelasttwoyears,thepriceofmemoryhasreachedverylowlevels.Devicemanufacturersnowhavetheabilitytoincludemorememoryatlowerprices.ManycellphonesnowhavemorestandardmemorythantheaveragePChadinthemid-1990s.So,nowthatwehavetheneed,andthememory,wecanalljumpinanddevelopcoolapplicationsforcellphonesaroundtheworld,right?

Notexactly.

Devicemanufacturersstillcloselyguardtheoperatingsystemsthatrunontheirdevices.WhileafewhaveopeneduptothepointwheretheywillallowsomeJava-basedapplicationstorunwithinasmallenvironmentonthephone,manydonotallowthis.EventhesystemsthatdoallowsomeJavaappstorundonotallowthekindofaccesstothe“core”systemthatstandarddesktopdevelopersareaccustomedtohaving.

1.3OpenHandsetAllianceandAndroid

ThisbarriertoapplicationdevelopmentbegantocrumbleinNovemberof2007whenGoogle,undertheOpenHandsetAlliance,releasedAndroid.TheOpenHandsetAllianceisagroupofhardwareandsoftwaredevelopers,includingGoogle,NTTDoCoMo,SprintNextel,andHTC,whosegoalistocreateamoreopencellphoneenvironment.Thefirstproducttobereleasedundertheallianceisthemobiledeviceoperatingsystem,Android.（FormoreinformationabouttheOpenHandsetAlliance,see.）

NOTE：

Google,inpromotingthenewAndroidoperatingsystem,evenwentasfarastocreatea$10millioncontestlookingfornewandexcitingAndroidapplications.

WhilecellphonesrunningLinux,Windows,andevenPalmOSareeasytofind,asofthiswriting,nohardwareplatformshavebeenannouncedforAndroidtorunon.HTC,LGElectronics,Motorola,andSamsungaremembersoftheOpenHandsetAlliance,underwhichAndroidhasbeenreleased,sowecanonlyhopethattheyhaveplansforafewAndroid-baseddevicesinthenearfuture.WithitsreleaseinNovember2007,thesystemitselfisstillinasoftware-onlybeta.Thisisgoodnewsfordevelopersbecauseitgivesusarareadvancelookatafuturesystemandachancetobegindevelopingapplicationsthatwillrunassoonasthehardwareisreleased.

NOTE：

ThisstrategyclearlygivestheOpenHandsetAllianceabigadvantageoverothercellphoneoperatingsystemdevelopers,becausetherecouldbeanuncountablenumberofapplicationsavailableimmediatelyforthefirstdevicesreleasedtorunAndroid.

IntroductiontoAndroid

Android,asasystem,isaJava-basedoperatingsystemthatrunsontheLinux2.6kernel.Thesystemisverylightweightandfullfeatured.AndroidapplicationsaredevelopedusingJavaandcanbeportedrathereasilytothenewplatform.IfyouhavenotyetdownloadedJavaorareunsureaboutwhichversionyouneed,IdetailtheinstallationofthedevelopmentenvironmentinChapter2.OtherfeaturesofAndroidincludeanaccelerated3-Dgraphicsengine（basedonhardwaresupport）,d