Book Image

Android Native Development Kit Cookbook

By : Liu Feipeng
Book Image

Android Native Development Kit Cookbook

By: Liu Feipeng

Overview of this book

Building Android applications would usually mean that you spend all of your time working in Java. There are however times when this is not the most efficient or best method for the application being built. This is where Android NDK comes in. Android NDK allows the developer to write in Native C/C++, giving you the power to reuse code and libraries and also, in most cases, increase the speed and efficiency of your application.The "Android Native Development Kit Cookbook" will help you understand the development, building, and debugging of your native Android applications. We will discover and learn JNI programming and essential NDK APIs such as OpenGL ES, and the native application API. We will then explore the process of porting existing libraries and software to NDK. By the end of this book you will be able to build your own apps in NDK apps."Android Native Development Kit Cookbook" begins with basic recipes that will help you in the building and debugging of native apps, and JNI programming. The recipes cover various topics of application development with Android NDK such as OpenGL programming and Multimedia programming. We will begin with a simple recipe, Hello NDK, before moving on to cover advanced topics with recipes on OpenGL ES that focus on 2D and 3D graphics, as well as recipes that discuss working with NDK and external APIs. If you are looking for ways to make your application available in Android and take measures to boost your application's performance, then this Cookbook is for you.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Android Native Development Kit Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Introduction


Programming with Android NDK is essentially writing code in both Java and native languages such as C, C++, and assembly. Java code runs on Dalvik Virtual Machine (VM), while native code is compiled to binaries running directly on the operating system. Java Native Interface (JNI) acts like the bridge that brings both worlds together. This relationship between Java code, Dalvik VM, native code, and the Android system can be illustrated using the following diagram:

The arrow in the diagram indicates which party initiates the interaction. Both Dalvik VM and Native Code run on top of Android system (Android is a Linux-based OS). They require the system to provide the execution environment. JNI is part of Dalvik VM, which allows Native Code to access fields and invoke methods at Java Code. JNI also allows Java Code to invoke native methods implemented in Native Code. Therefore, JNI facilitates the two-way communication between Native Code and Java Code.

If you are familiar with Java...