Mobile Development
Contents
Device Considerations
Platform
Will you be developing for multiple platforms?
- Android
- iOS
- Windows 10 Mobile
- Blackberry 10
- Firefox OS
- Sailfish OS
- Tizen
- Ubuntu Touch
- CynaogenOS
Hardware
- Depending on the device, the specifications of hardware can be very different
- Some devices may not have certain components
- Vintage of components, such as processors and busses will make a difference to the chosen route
Language
- What programming languages are supported natively by the device?
- What language suits what you want to do best?
- Do you need a combination of languages for collaborative tasks?
Form factor
- Most platforms/OSes run on multiple devices, some more than others
- Can your application be utilised on all form factors regardless of screen/size?
Native vs Hybrid Frameworks
Native Frameworks
Native application frameworks allow developers to access the native platform/OS API directly through code and develop their applications directly to the platform standards and practices
- Pros:
- Without other intermediate layers, this provides the best application per device in terms of performance
- There is no third-party dependence on access to updates and bug fixes
- Cons:
- As a native application is written and compiled for a specific platform/OS, deployment on another platform typically requires the maintenance of a totally separate project for each of the supported platforms.
- How the application is distributed can be different for each platform, requiring the maintenance of a separate distribution channel per platform
Hybrid Frameworks
Web-based frameworks are essentially tools/processes/procedures that allow us to write an application as a website rather than using any native code (e.g. PhoneGap/Cordova)
- Pros:
- Anyone with basic web-development skills (HTML, CSS, JS) can write a decent application.
- There are several frameworks to choose from.
- It is possible to wrap the content in an application or just access it with the built-in browser.
- Applications can be accessible across multiple platforms.
- Cons:
- Going through so many higher-level languages and interpreters makes run-time much slower than a native application
- Each platform has a unique style and mode of operation. This gets lost in a web-based application or, at least, requires a lot of work to make it seem intuitive for each platform.
Android Studio
https://developer.android.com/studio
Java version for Android Studio/Android SDK: https://android.tutorials24x7.com/blog/how-to-install-android-sdk-tools-on-ubuntu
Note: Before I installed Android Studio, there were already in my home directory these two folders:
.android
.AndroidStudio3.5
I don't know why because I haven't installed Android Studio before. It is possible that they were added when I try to build my ionic project using Capacitor, which requires Android Studio I think so, but I'm not sure about it.
To install Android studio just go to the official web site, download the package. After unzipping, you will have this folder:
android-studio
that already contain the bin files that can be just executed to open Android Studio. I have created a directory (./androidStudio) in my home and placed the above directory into it:
./androidStudio/android-studio
Then, we just need to execute the following file to open Android Studio:
./androidStudio/android-studio/studio.sh
The first time we execute studi.sh, we need to follow the setup wizard to configure, among other things, android SDK.
I have configured this path for android SDK: ~./androidStudio/.androidSDK
When I finished the setup wizard I got a message saying that my computer support hardware acceleration for the Android Emulator. To install and configure it you can follow:
- https://developer.android.com/studio/run/emulator-acceleration?utm_source=android-studio#vm-linux
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM/Installation
Then, we just need to add the paths to our ~/.bashrc:
