Some Thoughts about Android

As a embedded developer working with mobile phones, there is a new interesting kid on the block; the Android platform. If you are a mobile developer you most certainly had heard of it.

The interesting thing from a Java developer point of view is that all the APIs are in fact in standard Java APIs. But the developers of the Android platform has selected a subset of the Java SE APIs. Thus the implementation is not a fully compliant Java implementation. Further on the code is not executed as bytecode. The source code is first compiled to bytecode. In the second step the bytecode is converted to Dalvik bytecode. The Dalvik bytecode is then executed on a Dalvik Virtual Machine. The Dalvik is optimized for devices with limited power. According to the people behind the Dalvik VM, it should consume less power than a normal JVM.

I have bought a HTC Hero to have the opportunity to use an Android phone and to develop applications for the Android platform. It is possible to execute a Android application on an emulator, but still I think there is a need to be able to execute on a real device. The emulator is real good and I think that it is very close to the reality. My experience tells me that in the end it is always better to run on an actual device.

As of now I have not developed an real Android application from scratch, although I have attended an Android course. I am really looking forward to making an Android application. If its gets good it would be interesting to put it on Android Market, aka Google Market.

But what will happen to Java ME? I think that Java ME will live long and prosperous, although some programmers that are tired of Java ME will move to Android. The devices that are out on the market today are primarily high end phones. Java ME is found on many low end and mid end phones. What do you think? Will Java ME survive now that Android has arrived?

Manifesto for Software Craftmanship

This week I signed the Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship. When I read the book "Software Craftsmanship: The New Imperative", it kind of rocked my world. The book dissects most of the accepted software engineering principles and offers an alternative view. Since I was fostered in the software engineering school, the book questioned all that I believed in. But I really liked the book and its pragmatic view of software development. The manifesto is built on the ideas in the book.

The Manifesto for Software Craftsmanships looks like this:

• Not only working software,
  but also well-crafted software
• Not only responding to change,
  but also steadily adding value
• Not only individuals and interactions,
  but also a community of professionals
• Not only customer collaboration,
  but also productive partnerships

If you wish to sign the manifest, just visit the homepage. There is also a Software Craftsmanship group at LinkedIn.

What do you think of the manifesto?