The Google Android Open Source Project is Here!
Yesterday was a big day in the world of Google Android. The Android Open Source Project launched, meaning that source codes are now officially available to anyone (you, me, my mom, or your dog) at source.android.com. I can only imagine the froth and drool coming from many a developers’ mouth at the prospect of developing with Android.
So what is Android? A quick overview in 40 words or less from Google:
Android is the first free, open source, and fully customizable mobile platform. Android offers a full stack: an operating system, middleware, and key mobile applications. It also contains a rich set of APIs that allows third-party developers to develop great applications.
Basically it is a mobile app developers dream (for the most part). All of the code is open source. Tools and an online community are all available 24/7 to help developers get their own apps in place and on devices. And, one cool thing that I’ve learned thus far is google has built a web-based tool called Gerrit for developers. Google uses Gerrit to manage source code reviews and patches. So, lets say you’ve worked hard on a patch for the Android OS itself. You can submit it, and the developer in charge of the area of the OS you worked on will communicate back and forth with you to either massage the patch into place, or just plain out refuse it. This is an awesome way for the worldwide community to help grow and evolve the OS. Once a patch or fix is approved, the developer on Google’s end can actually publish the item to the OS. Cool!
To elaborate more on the importance of what’s happening here with Android…Yesterday Dave Bort at the Android Open Source Project made the following post:
Today is a big day for Android, the Open Handset Alliance, and the open-source community. All of the work that we’ve poured into the mobile platform is now officially available, for free, as the Android Open Source Project.
You’ll be hearing a lot about Android devices. We’ve all put a lot of effort into the first Android device, and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. But one device is just the beginning.
Android is not a single piece of hardware; it’s a complete, end-to-end software platform that can be adapted to work on any number of hardware configurations. Everything is there, from the bootloader all the way up to the applications. And with an Android device already on the market, it has proven that it has what it takes to truly compete in the mobile arena.
Even if you’re not planning to ship a mobile device any time soon, Android has a lot to offer. Interested in working on a speech-recognition library? Looking to do some research on virtual machines? Need an out-of-the-box embedded Linux solution? All of these pieces are available, right now, as part of the Android Open Source Project, along with graphics libraries, media codecs, and some of the best development tools I’ve ever worked with.
Have a great idea for a new feature? Add it! As an open source project, the best part is that anyone can contribute to Android and influence its direction. And if the platform becomes as ubiquitous as I hope it will, you may end up influencing the future of mobile devices as a whole.
This is an exciting time for Android, and we’re just getting started. It takes a lot of work to keep up with the changes in the mobile industry. But we want to do more than just keep up; we want to lead the way, to try things out, to add the new features that everyone else is scrambling to keep up with. But we can’t do it without your help.
What will you do with Android?
Again, if you’re a developer or are just curious to see what is going on with Google Android, I urge you to check out source.android.com. Take a few minutes and putter around!