The Android operating system has been designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
Developed initially by Android, Inc., backed financially by Google (later bought by Google in 2005), Android was unveiled in 2007, and the Open Handset Alliance (a consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices).
Android is the buzzword in technology today, with a market share of 42% across various devices worldwide. Android apps are open source, unlike their competitors like iOS and Blackberry. The tools needed for their development are free, and there is no need to purchase a special developer phone or register your hardware as a development device.
Here are the top Android Development tools currently trending in the market
Android SDK
Native Development Kit(NDK)
Titanium Mobile SDK
Hyper Next Android Creator
ADOBE AIR
1. Android SDK:
The Android Software Development Kit (SDK) provides the API libraries and developer tools necessary to build, test, and debug Android apps. It is one of the most popular SDKs used for Android.
Aspiring New Android developers can download the ADT Bundle to develop apps quickly. It includes the essential Android SDK components and a version of the Eclipse IDE with built-in ADT (Android Developer Tools) to streamline your Android app development. These are some of the important elements of the ADT Bundle.
Eclipse + ADT plugin
Android SDK Tools
Android Platform-tools
Current Version of the Android platform
Current Version of the Android system image for the emulator More
2. Native Development Kit(NDK):
The NDK is a toolset that allows Android developers to implement parts of their apps using native-code languages such as C and C++.NDK can be very helpful for developers as they can reuse existing code libraries written in these languages.
The most important point to be considered here is that NDK will not benefit most apps. The developer must balance its gains over drawbacks, as the native code may not always increase the performance but generally increases the complexity. I prefer NDK only if it is essential to your app, never because you choose to program in C/C++.
3. Titanium Mobile SDK:
The Titanium SDK provides community developers with an unmatched ability to create quality native, mobile web, or rich hybrid applications for all platforms from a single code base using JavaScript. With over 5,000 APIs, Titanium allows you to deliver an immersive user experience in a fraction of the time compared with traditional native platforms.
Although Titanium suffers from disadvantages like flexibility limitations, user experience issues, and complexity issues, it still stands first among Android and other cross-platform app developers.
4. Hyper Next Android Creator:
Hypertext Android Creator (HAC) is an easy-to-use software creation system that allows almost anyone to start building their own Android apps that work quickly. Apps developed on HAC enjoy good support on a wide range of devices.
HAC operation is based on HyperCard, which treats software as a stack of cards. Only one card is visible at a time, making it well-suited for mobile phone applications that allow single-window operation.
HAC’s programming language is “HyperNext,” which is much more similar to English, making it user-friendly to learn and implement.
5. ADOBE AIR:
The Adobe AIR® run time enables developers to package the same code into native apps for iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, and other Android devices, reaching the mobile app stores for over 500 million devices. Running on Action Script, HTML, and CSS AIR allows users to develop cross-platform mobile apps, saving them time and minimizing the development cost.
