Android Native Development Kit Cookbook

A step-by-step tutorial with more than 60 concise recipes on Android NDK development skills

Overview

• Build, debug, and profile Android NDK apps
• Implement part of Android apps in native C/C++ code.
• Optimize code performance in assembly with Android NDK.

In Detail

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.

What you will learn from this book

• Develop Android apps in C/C++ without a single line of Java.
• Program 2D/3D graphics with both OpenGL ES 1x and 2.0 in Android NDK.
• Write multi-threaded Android apps in Android NDK.
• Port existing C/C++ libraries and applications to Android with NDK.
• Develop multimedia Android apps with Android NDK.

Approach

This book is written in a Cookbook style, beginning with recipes which focus on helping developers make their software/application available in Android.

Who this book is written for

Android developers who want to learn Android NDK programming, or develop multimedia and games in Android NDK will benefit from this book.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Hello NDK
Chapter 2: Java Native Interface
Chapter 3: Build and Debug NDK Applications
Chapter 4: Android NDK OpenGL ES API
Chapter 5: Android Native Application API
Chapter 6: Android NDK Multithreading
Chapter 7: Other Android NDK API
Chapter 8: Porting and Using the Existing Libraries with Android NDK
Chapter 9: Porting an Existing Application to Android with NDK