Difference between revisions of "Android Glossary"

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See also the developer glossary at: http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/glossary.html
 
See also the developer glossary at: http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/glossary.html
  
Back to [[AndroidPortal]]
+
Back to [[Android Portal]]
  
 
== A ==
 
== A ==
; adb : Android Debug
+
; [[Android aapt|aapt]] : Android Asset Packaging Tool - a tool for creating, inspecting and modifying Android application packages.
 +
 
 +
; Activity : A single focused thing the user can do on an Android device.  Also, a java class in the Android framework, which is used as the superclass for an Activity implementation.  See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html.  "An Activity presents a visual user interface for one focused endeavor the user can undertake."  See Activity on the page: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html
 +
 
 +
; adb : Android Debug Bridge - a tool for communicating between the host and a target Android system (including an emulator running on the host).  See http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html
 +
 
 
; ADP1 : Android Developer Phone 1
 
; ADP1 : Android Developer Phone 1
 +
 +
; ANR : Application Not Responding - this is a type of bug where Android believes a process has hung.  The system may kill the process, and leave information about it in /data/anr for post-mortem analysis.
 +
 
; Android : A robot resembling a human being - the name of the operating system produced by Google for mobile phones.  Apparently, Andy Rubin, one of the original founders of Android, Inc. loves robots.
 
; Android : A robot resembling a human being - the name of the operating system produced by Google for mobile phones.  Apparently, Andy Rubin, one of the original founders of Android, Inc. loves robots.
 +
 +
; AndroidManifest.xml : A file describing the contents, permissions and other attributes of an Android application package.  See http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html
 +
 
; Android, Inc. : A company founded by Andy Rubin and others to create a mobile phone operating system.  Android, Inc. was acquired by Google in 2005.
 
; Android, Inc. : A company founded by Andy Rubin and others to create a mobile phone operating system.  Android, Inc. was acquired by Google in 2005.
; ASE : Android Scripting Environment
+
 
 +
; ASE : Android Scripting Environment - the old name of Scripting Layer for Android. See [[Android Scripting]]
  
 
== B ==
 
== B ==
 
; Binder : An Interprocess Communication (IPC) mechanism.  See http://cs736-android.pbworks.com/IPC-Binder and http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/msg/dc0e0e872de9b0d2
 
; Binder : An Interprocess Communication (IPC) mechanism.  See http://cs736-android.pbworks.com/IPC-Binder and http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/msg/dc0e0e872de9b0d2
 
; Bionic : small C library used in Android devices
 
; Bionic : small C library used in Android devices
; Bootchart : A mechanism to create visual charts of a Linux boot sequence, including the timing of process start and execution.
+
; Bootchart : A mechanism to create visual charts of a Linux boot sequence, including the timing of process start and execution. See [[Using Bootchart on Android]]
  
== C,D ==
+
== C ==
 +
; Cliq : The US name for the Motorola Android phone.
 +
; Content Provider : An piece of software on an Android system that provides information (content) to other software elements. See http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/content-providers.html.  Also, a class which is the superclass for code which acts as a content provider.  See the [http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/ContentProvider.html ContentProvider class documentation]
 
; Cupcake : The code name for Android version 1.5.
 
; Cupcake : The code name for Android version 1.5.
 +
 +
== D ==
 
; Dalvik : Virtual Machine in which Android applications are run.  This VM executes Dalvik bytecode, which is compiled from programs written in the Java language.  Note that the Dalvik VM is not a Java VM (JVM).
 
; Dalvik : Virtual Machine in which Android applications are run.  This VM executes Dalvik bytecode, which is compiled from programs written in the Java language.  Note that the Dalvik VM is not a Java VM (JVM).
 
:
 
:
 
: Every Android application runs in its own process, with its own instance of the Dalvik virtual machine. Dalvik has been written so that a device can run multiple VMs efficiently. The Dalvik VM executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format which is optimized for minimal memory footprint. The VM is register-based, and runs classes compiled by a Java language compiler that have been transformed into the .dex format by the included "dx" tool.
 
: Every Android application runs in its own process, with its own instance of the Dalvik virtual machine. Dalvik has been written so that a device can run multiple VMs efficiently. The Dalvik VM executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format which is optimized for minimal memory footprint. The VM is register-based, and runs classes compiled by a Java language compiler that have been transformed into the .dex format by the included "dx" tool.
 +
:
 +
:See [[Android Dalvik VM]] for more information
 +
; Donut : The code name for Android version 1.6
 
; Dream : Code name for the mobile phone hardware publicly called the t-Mobile G1, in the United States.
 
; Dream : Code name for the mobile phone hardware publicly called the t-Mobile G1, in the United States.
 +
; Droid : The name for an upcoming Android phone by Motorola (I believe this is the high-end phone, and Cliq is the low-end phone?)
 +
 +
== E ==
 +
; Eclair : The code name for Android version 2.1
  
== F, G ==
+
== F ==
; fastboot : a program which communicates with the developer firmware, and which is capable of loading new software on the ADP1 phone (including re-writing the flash partitions on the device).
+
; fastboot : a program which communicates with the developer firmware, and which is capable of loading new software on the ADP1 phone (including re-writing the flash partitions on the device). See [[Android Fastboot]]
 
; FreeType : An open-source set of fonts and font system
 
; FreeType : An open-source set of fonts and font system
 +
; Froyo : ''Frozen Yogurt'' - The code name for Android version 2.2
 +
 +
== G ==
 
; G1 : The name of the first Android-based mobile phone, from t-Mobile.
 
; G1 : The name of the first Android-based mobile phone, from t-Mobile.
 +
 +
; Galaxy : The name of the first Samsung Android phone
 +
 +
; Gingerbread : The code name for Android version 2.3
 +
 
; Goldfish : The name of a virtual ARM platform provided by the emulator.
 
; Goldfish : The name of a virtual ARM platform provided by the emulator.
 
:
 
:
 
:Goldfish executes ARM926T instructions and has hooks for input and output -- such as reading key presses from or displaying video output in the emulator. There is a "goldfish" configuration file for compiling the Linux kernel to run with this emulated platform.
 
:Goldfish executes ARM926T instructions and has hooks for input and output -- such as reading key presses from or displaying video output in the emulator. There is a "goldfish" configuration file for compiling the Linux kernel to run with this emulated platform.
 
; Google : A large web search company, and primary developer of Android
 
; Google : A large web search company, and primary developer of Android
 +
 +
== H ==
 +
; Honeycomb : The code name for Android version 3.0 - especially targeted at table computers
  
 
== I ==
 
== I ==
; init : the first user-space program run in the Android system
+
; Ice Cream Sandwhich : Android version 2.4 or 3.1 - the successor to Gingerbread and/or Honeycomb (possibly indicating a development fork)  See http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/11/android-ice-cream-sandwich/
 +
 
 +
; init : the first user-space program run in the Android system.  It is not a standard Linux-style 'init' program (which processes an /etc/inittab file).  Rather, it processes a script called init.rc in the root directory of the file system. See [[Android_Booting#.27init.27|Android Booting#'init']]
 +
 
 
; Intent :  A facility to send messages between different Android components.  A message is conveyed using an Intent object, which is a data structure holding a description of an operation to be performed, or of something that has happened and is being announced.
 
; Intent :  A facility to send messages between different Android components.  A message is conveyed using an Intent object, which is a data structure holding a description of an operation to be performed, or of something that has happened and is being announced.
  
Line 42: Line 79:
 
:It is important to note that while the Java language is used for Android applications, the Java bytecode and Java virtual machine are not.  for more information, see the entry for Dalvik.
 
:It is important to note that while the Java language is used for Android applications, the Java bytecode and Java virtual machine are not.  for more information, see the entry for Dalvik.
 
; JDK : Java Development Kit
 
; JDK : Java Development Kit
 +
; Jellybean : The code name for Android versions 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3
 +
; JNI : Java Native Interface ([http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Native_Interface wikipedia entry]) is a programming framework that allows Java code to call or be called by "native" code (that is, code compiled in another language such as C, C++ or assembly).
  
== L, M ==
+
== K ==
 +
; KitKat: The release name for Android version 4.4
 +
 
 +
== L ==
 
; Linux : An open source operating system kernel, developed originally by Linus Torvalds, but over time by many thousands of developers worldwide.
 
; Linux : An open source operating system kernel, developed originally by Linus Torvalds, but over time by many thousands of developers worldwide.
 
; Live-android : A project to create an [http://code.google.com/p/live-android/ Android live-CD], for running Android on generic x86 platforms.
 
; Live-android : A project to create an [http://code.google.com/p/live-android/ Android live-CD], for running Android on generic x86 platforms.
; MSM : ???
+
; logcat: A command to view messages in one of the system logs.  See [[Android logger]]
 +
 
 +
== M ==
 +
; manifest file: See AndroidManifest.xml
 +
; mahimahi: The machine name used in the kernel for the development board used for the Nexus One product.
 +
; MSM : Mobile Station Modem. Chipset manufactured by Qualcomm. Can for instance be found in cell phones containing the Snapdragon chipsets (HTC Desire/Nexus One).
 +
 
 +
== N ==
 +
; NDK : [http://developer.android.com/sdk/ndk/index.html Native Development Kit].  A set of tools, build files and instructions to generate native code (usually libraries) to be used with Android systems.  Native libraries are most often used as part of JNI (to allow Java code to call C code, or vice versa).
  
 
== O ==
 
== O ==
 
; OpenGL ES : 3D graphics system and API for Android applications
 
; OpenGL ES : 3D graphics system and API for Android applications
 +
 +
== R ==
 +
; repo : Android repository manager.  This is a wrapper program (written in Python) over the git tool, for managing the multiple git repositories that make up the entire Android code base. See http://source.android.com/download/using-repo
 +
; rild : Radio-Interface-Link daemon.  This is the daemon which handles communication between the rest of the Android system and the "radio interface" (otherwise known as the phone portion of an Android-based mobile phone system).  In the simulator, since the phone hardware is not present, there is a program which runs to simulate the radio interface.
  
 
== S ==
 
== S ==
 
; Saphire
 
; Saphire
 +
 +
; SL4A : Scripting Layer for Android - an execution environment that let's users use scripting languages (such as Python or Ruby), instead of Java, to write programs for Android.  See [[Android Scripting]]
 +
 
; SGL : 2D graphics layer for Android applications
 
; SGL : 2D graphics layer for Android applications
 
; SQLite : A powerful and lightweight relational database engine used by the Android system components, and available to all Android applications.
 
; SQLite : A powerful and lightweight relational database engine used by the Android system components, and available to all Android applications.
  
 
== T ==
 
== T ==
 +
; TARGET_PRODUCT : An environment variable used by the build system to indicate the product that the software should be built for.  This and other TARGET_* variables are set using the choosecombo() function in build/envsetup.sh. If not set, the TARGET_* variables will use defaults when you run the 'm' alias, after source-ing build/envsetup.sh into your shell environment.  Otherwise, use the choosecombo() function to set them.
 +
:
 +
:ex: $ cd mydroid ; source build/envsetup.sh ; choosecombo
 +
:
 +
:The options for TARGET_PRODUCT depend on entries in the AndroidProducts.mk files under build/target/products and vendor/*/*/AndroidProducts.mk in your repository.
 +
; toolbox : The name of a multi-function program in the Android system.  This program contains code for the single program toolbox to act like several different programs and utilities.  Normally 'toolbox' is stored in /system/bin, and is symlinked to other names.  It uses argv[0] to determine which program to behave like, when run.  It is very similar in this regard to 'busybox', which another multi-function program used in many other embedded Linux systems.
 
; Trout : ARM linux kernel machine ID for the HTC Dream hardware (used in the t-Mobile G1 and the ADP1)
 
; Trout : ARM linux kernel machine ID for the HTC Dream hardware (used in the t-Mobile G1 and the ADP1)
 
:
 
:
 
:See http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/developer/machines/list.php?id=1440
 
:See http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/developer/machines/list.php?id=1440
 +
 +
== V ==
 +
; vold : volume daemon - a process on an android system responsible for managing mounting and unmounting file system (volumes)
  
 
== W ==
 
== W ==
 
; wakelocks : A kernel mechanism for Android power management.  When a thread holds a wakelock, the kernel will refrain from entering a low-power state.
 
; wakelocks : A kernel mechanism for Android power management.  When a thread holds a wakelock, the kernel will refrain from entering a low-power state.
  
Back to [[AndroidPortal]]
+
Back to [[Android Portal]]
 +
 
 +
== Z ==
 +
; zygote : The first Dalvik virtual machine instance.  All other java applications that are started in the system are spawned from zygote.
 +
 
 +
[[Category:Android]]

Latest revision as of 12:32, 20 November 2014

Here are some Android terms (some even with definitions!!)

See also the developer glossary at: http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/glossary.html

Back to Android Portal

A

aapt 
Android Asset Packaging Tool - a tool for creating, inspecting and modifying Android application packages.
Activity 
A single focused thing the user can do on an Android device. Also, a java class in the Android framework, which is used as the superclass for an Activity implementation. See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html. "An Activity presents a visual user interface for one focused endeavor the user can undertake." See Activity on the page: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals.html
adb 
Android Debug Bridge - a tool for communicating between the host and a target Android system (including an emulator running on the host). See http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html
ADP1 
Android Developer Phone 1
ANR 
Application Not Responding - this is a type of bug where Android believes a process has hung. The system may kill the process, and leave information about it in /data/anr for post-mortem analysis.
Android 
A robot resembling a human being - the name of the operating system produced by Google for mobile phones. Apparently, Andy Rubin, one of the original founders of Android, Inc. loves robots.
AndroidManifest.xml 
A file describing the contents, permissions and other attributes of an Android application package. See http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html
Android, Inc. 
A company founded by Andy Rubin and others to create a mobile phone operating system. Android, Inc. was acquired by Google in 2005.
ASE 
Android Scripting Environment - the old name of Scripting Layer for Android. See Android Scripting

B

Binder 
An Interprocess Communication (IPC) mechanism. See http://cs736-android.pbworks.com/IPC-Binder and http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/msg/dc0e0e872de9b0d2
Bionic 
small C library used in Android devices
Bootchart 
A mechanism to create visual charts of a Linux boot sequence, including the timing of process start and execution. See Using Bootchart on Android

C

Cliq 
The US name for the Motorola Android phone.
Content Provider 
An piece of software on an Android system that provides information (content) to other software elements. See http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/content-providers.html. Also, a class which is the superclass for code which acts as a content provider. See the ContentProvider class documentation
Cupcake 
The code name for Android version 1.5.

D

Dalvik 
Virtual Machine in which Android applications are run. This VM executes Dalvik bytecode, which is compiled from programs written in the Java language. Note that the Dalvik VM is not a Java VM (JVM).
Every Android application runs in its own process, with its own instance of the Dalvik virtual machine. Dalvik has been written so that a device can run multiple VMs efficiently. The Dalvik VM executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format which is optimized for minimal memory footprint. The VM is register-based, and runs classes compiled by a Java language compiler that have been transformed into the .dex format by the included "dx" tool.
See Android Dalvik VM for more information
Donut 
The code name for Android version 1.6
Dream 
Code name for the mobile phone hardware publicly called the t-Mobile G1, in the United States.
Droid 
The name for an upcoming Android phone by Motorola (I believe this is the high-end phone, and Cliq is the low-end phone?)

E

Eclair 
The code name for Android version 2.1

F

fastboot 
a program which communicates with the developer firmware, and which is capable of loading new software on the ADP1 phone (including re-writing the flash partitions on the device). See Android Fastboot
FreeType 
An open-source set of fonts and font system
Froyo 
Frozen Yogurt - The code name for Android version 2.2

G

G1 
The name of the first Android-based mobile phone, from t-Mobile.
Galaxy 
The name of the first Samsung Android phone
Gingerbread 
The code name for Android version 2.3
Goldfish 
The name of a virtual ARM platform provided by the emulator.
Goldfish executes ARM926T instructions and has hooks for input and output -- such as reading key presses from or displaying video output in the emulator. There is a "goldfish" configuration file for compiling the Linux kernel to run with this emulated platform.
Google 
A large web search company, and primary developer of Android

H

Honeycomb 
The code name for Android version 3.0 - especially targeted at table computers

I

Ice Cream Sandwhich 
Android version 2.4 or 3.1 - the successor to Gingerbread and/or Honeycomb (possibly indicating a development fork) See http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/11/android-ice-cream-sandwich/
init 
the first user-space program run in the Android system. It is not a standard Linux-style 'init' program (which processes an /etc/inittab file). Rather, it processes a script called init.rc in the root directory of the file system. See Android Booting#'init'
Intent 
A facility to send messages between different Android components. A message is conveyed using an Intent object, which is a data structure holding a description of an operation to be performed, or of something that has happened and is being announced.

J

Java 
Java is a programming language originally developed by Sun, and used to develop Android applications.
It is important to note that while the Java language is used for Android applications, the Java bytecode and Java virtual machine are not. for more information, see the entry for Dalvik.
JDK 
Java Development Kit
Jellybean 
The code name for Android versions 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3
JNI 
Java Native Interface (wikipedia entry) is a programming framework that allows Java code to call or be called by "native" code (that is, code compiled in another language such as C, C++ or assembly).

K

KitKat
The release name for Android version 4.4

L

Linux 
An open source operating system kernel, developed originally by Linus Torvalds, but over time by many thousands of developers worldwide.
Live-android 
A project to create an Android live-CD, for running Android on generic x86 platforms.
logcat
A command to view messages in one of the system logs. See Android logger

M

manifest file
See AndroidManifest.xml
mahimahi
The machine name used in the kernel for the development board used for the Nexus One product.
MSM 
Mobile Station Modem. Chipset manufactured by Qualcomm. Can for instance be found in cell phones containing the Snapdragon chipsets (HTC Desire/Nexus One).

N

NDK 
Native Development Kit. A set of tools, build files and instructions to generate native code (usually libraries) to be used with Android systems. Native libraries are most often used as part of JNI (to allow Java code to call C code, or vice versa).

O

OpenGL ES 
3D graphics system and API for Android applications

R

repo 
Android repository manager. This is a wrapper program (written in Python) over the git tool, for managing the multiple git repositories that make up the entire Android code base. See http://source.android.com/download/using-repo
rild 
Radio-Interface-Link daemon. This is the daemon which handles communication between the rest of the Android system and the "radio interface" (otherwise known as the phone portion of an Android-based mobile phone system). In the simulator, since the phone hardware is not present, there is a program which runs to simulate the radio interface.

S

Saphire
SL4A 
Scripting Layer for Android - an execution environment that let's users use scripting languages (such as Python or Ruby), instead of Java, to write programs for Android. See Android Scripting
SGL 
2D graphics layer for Android applications
SQLite 
A powerful and lightweight relational database engine used by the Android system components, and available to all Android applications.

T

TARGET_PRODUCT 
An environment variable used by the build system to indicate the product that the software should be built for. This and other TARGET_* variables are set using the choosecombo() function in build/envsetup.sh. If not set, the TARGET_* variables will use defaults when you run the 'm' alias, after source-ing build/envsetup.sh into your shell environment. Otherwise, use the choosecombo() function to set them.
ex: $ cd mydroid ; source build/envsetup.sh ; choosecombo
The options for TARGET_PRODUCT depend on entries in the AndroidProducts.mk files under build/target/products and vendor/*/*/AndroidProducts.mk in your repository.
toolbox 
The name of a multi-function program in the Android system. This program contains code for the single program toolbox to act like several different programs and utilities. Normally 'toolbox' is stored in /system/bin, and is symlinked to other names. It uses argv[0] to determine which program to behave like, when run. It is very similar in this regard to 'busybox', which another multi-function program used in many other embedded Linux systems.
Trout 
ARM linux kernel machine ID for the HTC Dream hardware (used in the t-Mobile G1 and the ADP1)
See http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/developer/machines/list.php?id=1440

V

vold 
volume daemon - a process on an android system responsible for managing mounting and unmounting file system (volumes)

W

wakelocks 
A kernel mechanism for Android power management. When a thread holds a wakelock, the kernel will refrain from entering a low-power state.

Back to Android Portal

Z

zygote 
The first Dalvik virtual machine instance. All other java applications that are started in the system are spawned from zygote.