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The most widely used mobile operating system for mobile phones is android. Unsurprisingly, everyone wants to learn the skill of Android App development. Well, it's accessible even if you're not a developer. Any programming enthusiast with some basic understanding of programming and basic knowledge of Android App Development Fundamentals for Beginners. 

What Is Android?

Android is a mobile operating system developed by various developers, mainly Google and Open Handset Alliance. The operating system is written in Java (UI), C (Core), C++, and others. It was announced in November 2007, and the first commercial Android device was released in September 2008. 

Android OS belongs to the OS family of Unix-like, which is a modified Linux Kernel. It is primarily designed for mobile devices, touchscreens, smartphones, and tablets. Android has been the best-selling smartphone OS worldwide since 2011 and tablets since 2013. Currently, the operating system has over 5 billion monthly active users. 

Android App Development Fundamentals

Android App development becomes easy when the developers or App development enthusiasts are fully aware of the fundamental concepts behind the app development. The components of App development, the language proficiency required, the ideal Layout of the app, and the entire lifecycle of the Android Application come under the fundamentals.

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Essential Android App Development Fundamentals for Beginners

Android Programming Languages

In android, programming is done in two languages JAVA or C++ and XML(Extension Markup Language). Nowadays, KOTLIN is also preferred. The XML file deals with the design, presentation, layouts, blueprint, etc. (as a front-end), while the JAVA or KOTLIN deals with the working of buttons, variables, storing, etc. (as a back-end).

Android Components

The App components are the building blocks of android. Each component has its role and life cycle i.e. from the launching of an app till the end. Some of these components depend upon others also. Each component has a definite purpose. 

The four major app components are:

1. Activities

2. Services

3. Broadcast Receivers:

4. Content Provider

It deals with the UI and the user interactions on the screen. In other words, it is a User Interface that contains activities. These can be one or more depending upon the app. It starts when the application is launched. At least one action is always present. The activity is implemented through the following. 

Broadcast Receivers

A Broadcast responds to messages from other applications or the system. For example, when the battery of the phone is low, then the Android OS fires a Broadcasting message to launch the Battery Saver function or app, after receiving the message, the app takes the appropriate action.

Broadcast Receiver is the subclass of BroadcastReceiver class, and Intent objects represent each object.

Content Provider

Content Provider is used to transfer the data from one application to the others at the request of the other application. The class ContentResolver class handles these. This class implements a set of APIs(Application Programming Interface) that enables the other applications to perform the transactions. Any Content Provider must implement the Parent Class of ContentProvider class.

Services are the background actions performed by the app. These might be long-running operations like a user playing music while surfing the internet. A service might need other sub-services to perform specific tasks. The primary purpose of the Services is to provide non-stop working of the app without breaking any interaction with the user. 

Structural Layout of Android Studio

The basic structural Layout of Android Studio represents the various structure of an app. It contains the permission that an app might need to perform a specific task. Android Manifest is an XML file that is the root of the project source set. It describes the essential information about the app and the Android build tools, the Android Operating System, and Google Play. 

Mobile app development steps also contain the Hardware and Software features of the app, which determine the compatibility of an app on the Play Store. It also includes special activities like services, broadcast receivers, content providers, package names, etc.

Java Folder

The JAVA folder consists of the java files required to perform the app's background task. It consists of the functionality of the buttons, calculation, storing, variables, toast(small popup message), programming functions, etc. The number of these files depends upon the type of activities created.

Resource Folder

The res or Resource folder consists of the various resources that are used in the app. This consists of sub-folders like drawable, Layout, mipmap, raw, and values. The drawable consists of images. The Layout consists of the XML files that define the user interface layout.

These are stored in res. Layout and are accessed as R.layout class. The raw consists of the Resources files like audio or music files. These are accessed through R.raw.filename. Values are used to store the hardcoded strings(considered safe to store string values) values, integers, and colours. 

It Consists of Various Other Directories Like:

1. R.array :arrays.xml for resource arrays

2. R.integer : integers.xml for resource integers

3. R.bool : bools.xml for resource boolean

4. R.color :colors.xml for color values

5. R.string : strings.xml for string values

6. R.dimen : dimens.xml for dimension values

7. R.style : styles.xml for styles

Gradle Files

Gradle is an advanced toolkit used to manage the build process, which allows for defining flexible custom build configurations. Each build configuration can define its code and resources while reusing the parts common to all versions of your app.

The Android plugin for Gradle works with the build toolkit to provide processes and configurable settings specific to building and testing Android applications. Gradle and the Android plugin run independently of Android Studio. This means that you can develop your Android apps from within Android Studio.

The flexibility of the Android build system enables you to perform custom build configurations without modifying your app's core source files. 

States of Android Lifecycle

1. OnCreate: This is called when the activity is first created.

2. OnStart: This is called when the activity becomes visible to the user.

3. OnResume: This is when the activity starts interacting with the user.

4. OnPause: This is called when activity is not visible to the user.

5. OnStop: This is called when activity is no longer visible.

6. OnRestart: This is called when activity is stopped, and restarted again.

7. OnDestroy: This is called when activity is to be closed or destroyed.

Mobile app development companies work on these primary languages and build them eventually. 

Making the Right Choice over Needed Tools

The simple tools you need for Android app development are just a Mac or Windows PC, Linux, Eclipse, the ADT Plugin, and the Android SDK—all of which are free.

You can go through the installation guide on Google to learn how to set up your development environment; it provides documentation of everything needed.

Android has some unique parameters you should consider when writing an Android app.

1. Performance and responsiveness: You should always respond to user input within five seconds. Otherwise, the operating system will ANR you. (ANR-application not responding – the only option you will have is to force close your app.)

2. The users will notice lags of more than 100ms: As mentioned above, the UI thread should never be blocked because it is only one.

3. Limited resources: Wake-locks (the mechanism that forces the device to do a sure thing despite the battery manager's recommendation to put the device to sleep) should be used sparingly. Do not unnecessarily poll hardware (e.g. GPS or accelerometer) because it will quickly run down the battery.