Android Mobile Platform consists of four things Activity,Intent Receiver,Service,Content Provider.
The whole application development in this mobile platform revolves around these four building blocks. If you want to master this mobile platform, you have to be very clear about these four things. What is the idea behind these building blocks, what do they do and how do they fit and work together in an application developed on this mobile platform.
Activity is first and foremost of all the aforesaid four components in the Android mobile platform. Simply put, Activity represents a screen which can be used to carry out an activity. For example , suppose you want to play a song on your mobile device. What do you do? First you go to a screen that lists the songs from which you can choose the song. Second there will be anew screen which consists of an UI for playing songs. So there are two Activities.
Intent is how you tell the application what to do. Like view, pick, cancel etc. Intent receiver is the component through which an mobile application developed on Android mobile platform reacts to the outer stimulus like call receiving, message receiving.
Service is basically a process which may run in back ground and require no UI. For example one you start the music player , you do not require its interface. The music simply runs in back ground and you surf the web.
Content Provider is responsible for the content that appears in your application while executing like data from a database or other information from web.
Thus you see, Android mobile platform is quite straightforward and very simple in structure.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Android : Latest Technology For Mobiles From Google
Android Latest Technology
Android is getting popular day by day. Android is a platform developed by Google for developing mobile applications easily and efficiently.
Android apllications are to be written in Java Programming language. But these applications will not be run on traditional JVM. Rather android applications will be run on Dalvik. Dalvik is virtual machine highly optimized for mobile devices. The reason of using Dalvik is that application developed for mobile platform are supposed to be able to execute on minimum memory.
Most of the applications for mobile platform use a database technology which requires low memory and storage. For database storage Android uses SQLite. To help developers aspiring to develop the mobile applications in Android, the latest technology from Google provides device emulators and a rich development environment. Android platform consists of an operating system, and middleware and some tools to start with.
Android was developed with a purpose of developing applications which require minimum memory footprint, applications which fast, mobile applications which are quick to response and mobile applications which fit seamlessly with the operating system and other running programs and processes. Android is open source and its SDK is available to download from the Google.
With so many features and ease built-in , Android is poised to become the mobile technology of choice for development of mobile applications.
More information
Android is getting popular day by day. Android is a platform developed by Google for developing mobile applications easily and efficiently.
Android apllications are to be written in Java Programming language. But these applications will not be run on traditional JVM. Rather android applications will be run on Dalvik. Dalvik is virtual machine highly optimized for mobile devices. The reason of using Dalvik is that application developed for mobile platform are supposed to be able to execute on minimum memory.
Most of the applications for mobile platform use a database technology which requires low memory and storage. For database storage Android uses SQLite. To help developers aspiring to develop the mobile applications in Android, the latest technology from Google provides device emulators and a rich development environment. Android platform consists of an operating system, and middleware and some tools to start with.
Android was developed with a purpose of developing applications which require minimum memory footprint, applications which fast, mobile applications which are quick to response and mobile applications which fit seamlessly with the operating system and other running programs and processes. Android is open source and its SDK is available to download from the Google.
With so many features and ease built-in , Android is poised to become the mobile technology of choice for development of mobile applications.
More information
Solaris 10 Operating System
Introduction to Solaris 10
Solaris 10 is operating system from Sun Microsystems known for its stability and security features. Many have declared it as the most advanced operating system on the planet.
Solaris 10 has some unique features which are not found on any operating systems or if they are they exist in a very primitive stage. What I found the most notable, about Solaris 10 in particular and Sun in general is that the source code of Solaris 10 is available to be downloaded free of cost . So it is perfectly possible to customize and extend the operating system. Some engineers at Bangalore, India did just that. They took the Solaris kernel and molded it so that it could live on a LIVE CD and could be booted off that cd. What resulted was an open source implementation of Solaris poplarly known as Belenix.
The world at Sun is full of such marvelous stories where everyone is ready to customize the software according to his own needs. This is the true power of opensource software. Opensource software gives the power in your hands and not to some Software Giant which creates only proprietary software. Solaris is just that. Solaris has its origin in Unix operating system. And it incorporates many features of the Unix operating system. Most notable are the shells like bash shell, korn shell etc. And there are many features which Solaris 10 shares with Linux and Unix.
Solaris 10 is gaining popularity day by day. Opensolaris is another derivative of Solaris which has a buzzing developer community of its own.
Solaris 10 has some of the most competitive features found in the operating systems and it is an inspiration to other companies in the field of development of operating systems. For example, there a feature Solaris Container in this operating system which natively supports virtualization. This is terrific. The reason being Microsoft is going to have the same feature only in its next release of operating system called Windows 7.
DTrace also known as dynamic tracing is another feature that helps system administrators to identify the causes of performance degradation of system if there is any.
Platform dependency is the most limiting factor in deciding upon the right operating systems. Solaris 10 is supported on hundreds of x86 and SPARC platforms. Thousands of applications are built for this operating system. One of the most useful application I find is OpenOffice which is a very decent office suite and competes with Microsoft Office.
Security is the feature which Solaris 10 can boast of. This is the reason why the whole infrastructure of some big banks and online retail stores is based on this monster. It is estimated that Sun invested more than 500 million US Dollars into development the development of this fantastic operating system.
One last word , Solaris operating system is free. Can you believe it ? World's most advanced operating system is free. You can download it from Sun's site.
Solaris 10 is operating system from Sun Microsystems known for its stability and security features. Many have declared it as the most advanced operating system on the planet.
Solaris 10 has some unique features which are not found on any operating systems or if they are they exist in a very primitive stage. What I found the most notable, about Solaris 10 in particular and Sun in general is that the source code of Solaris 10 is available to be downloaded free of cost . So it is perfectly possible to customize and extend the operating system. Some engineers at Bangalore, India did just that. They took the Solaris kernel and molded it so that it could live on a LIVE CD and could be booted off that cd. What resulted was an open source implementation of Solaris poplarly known as Belenix.
The world at Sun is full of such marvelous stories where everyone is ready to customize the software according to his own needs. This is the true power of opensource software. Opensource software gives the power in your hands and not to some Software Giant which creates only proprietary software. Solaris is just that. Solaris has its origin in Unix operating system. And it incorporates many features of the Unix operating system. Most notable are the shells like bash shell, korn shell etc. And there are many features which Solaris 10 shares with Linux and Unix.
Solaris 10 is gaining popularity day by day. Opensolaris is another derivative of Solaris which has a buzzing developer community of its own.
Solaris 10 has some of the most competitive features found in the operating systems and it is an inspiration to other companies in the field of development of operating systems. For example, there a feature Solaris Container in this operating system which natively supports virtualization. This is terrific. The reason being Microsoft is going to have the same feature only in its next release of operating system called Windows 7.
DTrace also known as dynamic tracing is another feature that helps system administrators to identify the causes of performance degradation of system if there is any.
Platform dependency is the most limiting factor in deciding upon the right operating systems. Solaris 10 is supported on hundreds of x86 and SPARC platforms. Thousands of applications are built for this operating system. One of the most useful application I find is OpenOffice which is a very decent office suite and competes with Microsoft Office.
Security is the feature which Solaris 10 can boast of. This is the reason why the whole infrastructure of some big banks and online retail stores is based on this monster. It is estimated that Sun invested more than 500 million US Dollars into development the development of this fantastic operating system.
One last word , Solaris operating system is free. Can you believe it ? World's most advanced operating system is free. You can download it from Sun's site.
Windows 7 : Latest Operating System From Microsoft
What Is Windows 7 ?
Windows 7 in next major upgrade to the windows class of operating systems from Microsoft. This will be the next major version of Windows after Vista.
Windows 7 will be having two flavors namely client ( 32 bit and 64 bit) and server. Although the exact launch date is still not available, it has already become a news in technical circles. Among other things, Windows 7 is quite different from other Windows versions in that , it is not backward compatible. All the previous versions were backward compatible, meaning you could run the software which was programmed for Windows XP on Windows Vista too. This latest version breaks that tradition.
Bill Gates talks of many improvements in Windows 7 like it is ligh on memory, it is more efficient in execution and it scores up well as a gaming platform. One most notable thing about this version is that Microsoft is keeping a comparatively low-profile about this latest offering. From its launch date to its features nothing much is revealed from Microsoft yet.
There are rumors that Windows 7 will come in different building blocks which will be configurable separately . If this is really true this will be a milestone in the history of Windows class operating system. We will not have to face the bloated windows that eats up your hard disk space like termite. Windows 7 will take on the virtualization in a big way by giving native support to this exciting technology.
Ease, security and connectivity are the keywords behind the development of Windows 7. Though Microsoft is tight-lipped about its salient features , the latest version of Windows will be a landmark in the history of Microsoft. Microsoft is making every effort to make this OS easy to use, efficient in operation and better connected. There will be new versions of Paint and Wordpad.
For now we can not do much but keep our fingers crossed about what Windows 7 will bring in its wake, but one thing is sure Microsoft has to finalize its release date otherwise it may loose some time opportunity as its competitors are already offering very features in their own operating system.
I found some very definite information from internet about Windows 7.
CNET has a very long interview with Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, the guy in charge of the Windows 7 project. More..
Windows 7 in next major upgrade to the windows class of operating systems from Microsoft. This will be the next major version of Windows after Vista.
Windows 7 will be having two flavors namely client ( 32 bit and 64 bit) and server. Although the exact launch date is still not available, it has already become a news in technical circles. Among other things, Windows 7 is quite different from other Windows versions in that , it is not backward compatible. All the previous versions were backward compatible, meaning you could run the software which was programmed for Windows XP on Windows Vista too. This latest version breaks that tradition.
Bill Gates talks of many improvements in Windows 7 like it is ligh on memory, it is more efficient in execution and it scores up well as a gaming platform. One most notable thing about this version is that Microsoft is keeping a comparatively low-profile about this latest offering. From its launch date to its features nothing much is revealed from Microsoft yet.
There are rumors that Windows 7 will come in different building blocks which will be configurable separately . If this is really true this will be a milestone in the history of Windows class operating system. We will not have to face the bloated windows that eats up your hard disk space like termite. Windows 7 will take on the virtualization in a big way by giving native support to this exciting technology.
Ease, security and connectivity are the keywords behind the development of Windows 7. Though Microsoft is tight-lipped about its salient features , the latest version of Windows will be a landmark in the history of Microsoft. Microsoft is making every effort to make this OS easy to use, efficient in operation and better connected. There will be new versions of Paint and Wordpad.
For now we can not do much but keep our fingers crossed about what Windows 7 will bring in its wake, but one thing is sure Microsoft has to finalize its release date otherwise it may loose some time opportunity as its competitors are already offering very features in their own operating system.
I found some very definite information from internet about Windows 7.
CNET has a very long interview with Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, the guy in charge of the Windows 7 project. More..
Web 2.0 Technology
Around the year 2004 a new internet revolution swept the world wide web. This new wave resulted in new kind of web applications and web technology with enhanced look and feel and increased interactivity. Social Networking sites like Orkut, Facebook , Myspace sprouted out of nowhere. What was more prominent fact was almost all email websites like Google , Yahoo , Rediff and many more began to revamp their interfaces to confirm to the Web 2.0 standards.
This era witnessed a surge in everyone's interest in social networking sites and web 2.0 technology. Even those who were beginners in this field started participating in technological evolution in some way or another.
The basic idea behind this new version of web technology was to increase the usability of web application. And also to deepen the penetration of technology among the people who were not so technically aware or they were beginners in the field of new emerging technologies.
Previously web applications were more or less static in their response and with little affinity with desktop applications. At that time desktop application were very popular because of their customisability and their response time. But there were some hitches here and there. Like to use a desktop application you had to install it locally on the computer system. Now if you are beginner , you may not know how to do it. Moreover , each desktop software demanded its own configuration and execution to be set up. Again a difficult task for beginners. This led to low penetration of technology among general people. Software were primarily considered for geeks or semi-techies and not for beginners.
On the other hand , when web 2.0 began to take over , web applications were easily accessible to all, even to novice. You just need a modern browser like Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. There is no need of installation of software making it easy to use for beginners.
The main reason behind the success of these social networking Web 2.0 enabled websites was the human need to create a community of like minded people. As a result these kind of sites like myspace gained in popularity. Moreover there was a new breed of websites which enabled people to share photos. Previously, there were only social networking sites that were popular. Later , more targeted community sites evolved like technical communities, spiritual communities. Gradually , having a blog or a website became commonplace and the best part of all this was most of the sites were free and could be used by non-techies or the beginners. So here we are , in a world of vast array of technologies which are enabling more and more people to participate in the technology. This trend is breaking boundaries of cast , color and creed. Nowadays , you may have an account on Orkut where you may be having a person from another country as your friend.
But all this is not without its dangers. Today any person may pose as another person and you may never know. Hackers target these social sites for their own ends. So you have to be more aware while you are on the web traversing the maze of technology.
More Information
Web 2.0 Style
Privacy rules for a Web 2.0 world
This era witnessed a surge in everyone's interest in social networking sites and web 2.0 technology. Even those who were beginners in this field started participating in technological evolution in some way or another.
The basic idea behind this new version of web technology was to increase the usability of web application. And also to deepen the penetration of technology among the people who were not so technically aware or they were beginners in the field of new emerging technologies.
Previously web applications were more or less static in their response and with little affinity with desktop applications. At that time desktop application were very popular because of their customisability and their response time. But there were some hitches here and there. Like to use a desktop application you had to install it locally on the computer system. Now if you are beginner , you may not know how to do it. Moreover , each desktop software demanded its own configuration and execution to be set up. Again a difficult task for beginners. This led to low penetration of technology among general people. Software were primarily considered for geeks or semi-techies and not for beginners.
On the other hand , when web 2.0 began to take over , web applications were easily accessible to all, even to novice. You just need a modern browser like Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. There is no need of installation of software making it easy to use for beginners.
The main reason behind the success of these social networking Web 2.0 enabled websites was the human need to create a community of like minded people. As a result these kind of sites like myspace gained in popularity. Moreover there was a new breed of websites which enabled people to share photos. Previously, there were only social networking sites that were popular. Later , more targeted community sites evolved like technical communities, spiritual communities. Gradually , having a blog or a website became commonplace and the best part of all this was most of the sites were free and could be used by non-techies or the beginners. So here we are , in a world of vast array of technologies which are enabling more and more people to participate in the technology. This trend is breaking boundaries of cast , color and creed. Nowadays , you may have an account on Orkut where you may be having a person from another country as your friend.
But all this is not without its dangers. Today any person may pose as another person and you may never know. Hackers target these social sites for their own ends. So you have to be more aware while you are on the web traversing the maze of technology.
More Information
Web 2.0 Style
Privacy rules for a Web 2.0 world
Virtualization Technology
What Is Virtualization?
Virtualization is the technology through which a single computer system is made to work like multiple machines.In other words there may several operating systems working at the same time on a single machine.For example , you may have installed Windows XP as your primary operating system but there may requirement of running a server class operating system on the same system.There are two ways to do that.The first one is obvious that is to install that server operating system on separate machine.But this is a bit costly it terms of resources because you have to use separate computer to do that.
The latest technology to prevent this is the virtualization technique.In virtualization we use a software specially created for this purpose.This software works as a thin layer between your primary operating system and the other n number of operating systems which can be installed on that special software.Many virtualization software are available in the market.So virtualization is a technology which divides the hardware of a system into multiple execution environments.So you may have solaris running on Windows XP.
Microsoft Virtual PC is microsoft's offering in the field of virtualization.VMware is another software widely used for virtualization.In large enterprises the importance of virtualization is even greater so that resources can be efficiently utilized.The reason being that the IT Infrastructure used in big companies is very costly.
Virtualization is not only used to simulate the hardware but it can also be used to simulate a network of computers.
Another use of virtualization may be when you need to run legacy applications on a computer.These applications may not be able to utilize the resources.In that case it is better to use virtualization technology.From the security point view virtualization can be used to securely execute the untrusted applications in a separate environment.Virtualizaton can also be used to put extra workload on underutilised servers.Thus we can see now that virtualization is a very good technology to utilize IT infrastructure.
More Info
VirtualBox from Sun Microsystems
Virtualization – Before Disaster Strikes
The Future of Virtual Desktops: Turning Rich Desktops into a Ubiquitous Service
Beta version of VMware Fusion 2.0
Virtualization is the technology through which a single computer system is made to work like multiple machines.In other words there may several operating systems working at the same time on a single machine.For example , you may have installed Windows XP as your primary operating system but there may requirement of running a server class operating system on the same system.There are two ways to do that.The first one is obvious that is to install that server operating system on separate machine.But this is a bit costly it terms of resources because you have to use separate computer to do that.
The latest technology to prevent this is the virtualization technique.In virtualization we use a software specially created for this purpose.This software works as a thin layer between your primary operating system and the other n number of operating systems which can be installed on that special software.Many virtualization software are available in the market.So virtualization is a technology which divides the hardware of a system into multiple execution environments.So you may have solaris running on Windows XP.
Microsoft Virtual PC is microsoft's offering in the field of virtualization.VMware is another software widely used for virtualization.In large enterprises the importance of virtualization is even greater so that resources can be efficiently utilized.The reason being that the IT Infrastructure used in big companies is very costly.
Virtualization is not only used to simulate the hardware but it can also be used to simulate a network of computers.
Another use of virtualization may be when you need to run legacy applications on a computer.These applications may not be able to utilize the resources.In that case it is better to use virtualization technology.From the security point view virtualization can be used to securely execute the untrusted applications in a separate environment.Virtualizaton can also be used to put extra workload on underutilised servers.Thus we can see now that virtualization is a very good technology to utilize IT infrastructure.
More Info
VirtualBox from Sun Microsystems
Virtualization – Before Disaster Strikes
The Future of Virtual Desktops: Turning Rich Desktops into a Ubiquitous Service
Beta version of VMware Fusion 2.0
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