Mobile software development is one of the fastest emerging fields in the market. With Android being one of the big players in the industry, mobile application developers always try hard to enter the domain. Read the article and know about the stepwise development process, of an android app.

1. Android Programming – Easy and Interesting
Android is one of the most popular operating systems, that serves as a big playground for the
mobile application developers. If figures are believed, approximately 700k android apps are
currently hovering over the internet, and downloading of Android apps has crossed 25 billion
mark. Available at free of cost, the Android SDK enables the developers to design and develop a
wide range of android apps and generate huge revenue for the business. Android programming
involves meticulous integration of varied development processes, for the creation of robust, user-
friendly, scalable and efficient android apps. Therefore to make the process easier, android has
been constantly improving its OS, by releasing new versions like Cupcake, Ice cream sandwich
and Jelly bean.
An Android SDK offers best environment to the
mobile application developers. One of the main
reasons of the worldwide popularity of Android
programming is, its capacity to create unlimited user-
friendly apps. However, Android programming is
definitely not an easy task and requires thorough
knowledge of Java for application development.
The first step in the process of Android based mobile
software development requires the installation of an
IDE (Integrated Development Environment). The software provides the necessary tools, required
for the coding purpose, like editor, compiler, debugger and more. Even so, Understanding of Java
is mandatory for efficient android app development. The two major tools, generally used for this
purpose are Eclipse IDE & Netbeans.
Next step involves understanding and utilization of Android programming specific tools, proffered
by Android SDK. Users can add Android Development Tools plug-in, depending on the software
usage.
Now comes the installation of Android SDK, which
should be done on virtual devices, in order to avoid
additional configuration of the hardware devices. For
executing the application in an ideal way, the emulator is
used, which runs the app on the desktop of your system.
This also include the creation of an Android project,
incorporating all the codes and resources, which are
utilized in the application. The extension “.apk” is used on
the application, which assists in installation of the app,
onto the device.
After installing SDK, the main step is to test the
integration. The testing part is done by the debugging
tools present in the SDK. These tools along with
emulators assist in checking the apps in a number of
virtual devices.
Android programming is one of the most popular development process. A large number of mobile
application developers are using their knowledge and expertise to create innovative apps. With
Android based devices covering a total share of 68% in overall smart phones sale till Q2 2012, it
won't be wrong to say that open source development platform is at its peak.