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Android:AProgrammer’sGuide1WhatIsAndroid1.1KeySkills&Concepts●Historyofembeddeddeviceprogramming●ExplanationofOpenHandsetAlliance●FirstlookattheAndroidhomescreenItcanbesaidthat,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,1.2BriefHistoryofEmbeddedDeviceProgrammingForalongtime,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,cellphoneswithcameraswerenotcommonlyfoundinthehandso