1 Agenda

• Tools Overview
• Integrated Development Environments for Android
• Native Build Process
• Version Control Systems
• Testing Tools
• Collaboration Tools
• Continuous Integration

2 Basic Tools for App Development

• An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) including (*optional):
  • Source-code editor*
  • Debugger*
  • Cross-Compiler
  • Linker*
• Software Development Kit (SDK) for the target platform including:
  • Emulator & Simulator
  • Platform specific debug service
  • Platform libraries and source code or header files
  • Other build and platform relevant tools
• Version Control System*, e.g. Git, SVN
• Testing and Distribution Tools*, e.g. Bitrise, Firebase App Distribution
• Collaboration and Project Management Software*, e.g. Gitlab, JetBrains Space, Jira, Trello, Slack
• Continuous Integration Tools*, e.g. Jenkins

Most of the tools provide nowadays combined services.

3 Android IDE

For Android app development it is strongly recommended to use Android Studio.

Android Studio (based on IntelliJ IDEA): https://developer.android.com/studio

4 Native Build Process

5 Cross-Compilation

• Different CPUs have different instruction sets
• In order to run an application on a certain processor it has to be compiled to the machine code corresponding to the processors Application Binary Interface (ABI)

  

6 Simulator & Emulator

• Developing and deploying on the target device is time consuming
• Debugging might be more difficult
• Sometimes the target device is not available
• Thus, development environments usually provide a simulator or emulator, e.g.:
• XCode (iOS):
  • iPhone Simulator
• Android SDK:
  • Android Emulator

7 Simulator vs. Emulator

8 Version Control System (VCS)

• Allow to track changes to files (e.g. sourcecode)
• Most popular VCS
  • Git
  • Subversion (SVN)
• Free hosting options:
  • Github
  • Bitbucket
• In HdM: Gitlab (self-hosted)

9 Why Version Control

• Supports collaboration, i.e. development of source code in a team
• Stores different versions of a software efficiently without using too much storage space
• Keeps track and allows to restore older versions
• Efficient backup tool for you work

10 Git Clients

• Git client for Mac & Windows (next to the command line interface)
  • Atlassian SourceTree (free)
• IDE integrations:
  • Android Studio
  • Visual Studio Code

11 Crash Reporting and Beta Delivery Tools

• Google Play
  • Closed Testing for easy distribution in alpha and beta channels
  • Pre-Launch Reports
  • Android vitals
• Sentry
  • Can be hosted on own server
• Firebase App Distribution
• Firebase Crashlytics
  • Supports Android, iOS and Unity
  • Curated crash reports
  • Analytics integration
• Visual Studio App Center
  • Supports: Android, iOS, macOS, ReactNative, Windows (UWP), Xamarin
  • Diagnostics: Collects crash data from all devices
  • Distribution: Releases Android, iOS, macOS and UWP builds to end user devices

12 Collaboration Tools (examples)

• Citrix Podio
  • Chat, App, Wiki, ...
• Redmine
  • OpenSource
  • Wiki, activities, gantt, tickets,...
• Atlassian Jira Software
  • Issue tracking, scrum support, code integration
  • Often used in larger companies
• Gitlab

13 Continuous Integration (CI)

• Development procedure where changes are integrated frequently into a repository
• Principles
  • Maintain a code repository
  • Automate the build
  • Test the build automatically
  • Daily commit of every developer & build including test of every commit
    • Keep the build fast (otherwise it would take too long for CI)
    • Testing is done in a realistic but not productive environment (clone)
• Automate deployment for user tests
  • Make it easy for developers & testers to access the latest builds and see the build results
  • Also called Continuous Delivery (CD)

14 Continuous Integration (CI)

• Some advantages of CI
  • Bugs can be found and fixed immediately
  • Due to frequent builds, integration problems can be fixed at an early stage (reducing debug time)
  • Can increase code quality
• Disadvantages of CI
  • Initial setup is time consuming
  • Good test-tools are required
• Tools for CI
  • Jenkins, OpenSource CI tool written in Java (forked from Hudson)
  • More info at: https://www.jenkins.io/

15 Recap Questions

• What are the benefit and drawbacks of a simulator vs. an emulator?
• What is an ABI? Which tool makes use of this?
• What is an instruction set?
• Explain the concept of continuous integration? What are the benefits?